The Road to Redemption
by FaithLestrange
Summary: Faith's mother is not the one she thought. Turns out she's a crazy snake-following murderer. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Or does it? Harry Potter / Buffy crossover
1. Life is Pain

**The Road to Redemption**

_I've already posted some of this on Twisting the Hellmouth on but I thought I would post it here too and broaden my audience a little._

_ Sorry about all the 8's I couldn't get the page breaks and stuff to work right_

_Hope you like it!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. JK and Joss own the characters. Don't sue me. I'm poor._

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_Faith: The road to redemption is a rocky path._

_Angel: That it is._

_Faith: You think we might make it?_

_Angel: We might._

_-Angel Season 1: Episode 19 "Sanctuary"_

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Faith Lehane was devastated. She felt as though her world was being ripped in two.

She would probably be on the ground balling her eyes out under different circumstances.

The only thing that stopped her at the moment was the fact that an ugly and very strong Lei-Ach demon was holding her up by the throat.

Faith had come immediately to Los Angeles after she heard the news, along with a few of the older slayers she had been working with in Cleveland. Faith had a few contacts with the local mages and witches in Cleveland and they had been able to transport her and the girls there directly. They didn't have time to get there the old fashioned way.

Angel had been trying to take down Wolfram & Hart from the inside. He had finally made his move and killed a few of the higher ups. This had apparently pissed off the wrong demons because now Los Angeles was overrun by a giant demon horde…real rain of fire shit.

Faith had known Angel hadn't turned evil. If he had lost his soul that would have been one thing, but according to Willow his curse was still intact and Angel hadn't gotten his happy on. Faith didn't really understand why the Scoobies had been so quick to think Angel had gone native. She might have expected it from Xander, but for all of them to be so certain he was playing for the other team well…well it was strange.

She had been too occupied with the mini slayers and stopping the newest Apocalypse in Cleveland to investigate.

And now, all those excuses Faith had formed for not coming sooner tasted like ash in her mouth.

She had found Gunn first.

He was bleeding to death in an alleyway, unable to stand. She and the minis tried to keep him awake and to keep him alive, but they had been too late.

She had seen Fred not long after that or whatever it was that inhabited her body now. Some being that called herself Delirium or something. They hadn't talked long and she had lost her somewhere in the fight.

But in the time Faith had spoken with her, she had mentioned Wesley.

He was dead too.

There had been a time in her life when she would have wanted the honor of killing Wesley herself, but now….now things were different.

He had been a pompous ass back in Sunnydale and they had both made mistakes back then.

Granted hers had been a bit more severe. But just like her, he had changed since then.

Faith and Wesley may have had a sordid history, but after everything that happened between them she thought of their relationship as something at least approaching friendship. If she were to ever again have a watcher Faith would have wanted it to be him. Which now was an impossibility.

A few demon decapitations and vampire dustings later after she had been separated from her sister slayers, she ran into Angel.

He had been fighting a dragon! A freakin' dragon!

And after the surprise wore off, she had helped him to take it down.

They fought together for what had felt like hours, demon after demon cut down by their swords.

It felt incredible to fight by his side; she hadn't done much of that. In the few fights they had been in together, which she could remember, they had been fighting each other.

There had been too many and they overpowered them. It all happened so fast. One had been about to deal her a killing blow with its rather large axe, while she had been fending off two other demons.

Angel saved her, gutted the demon before it could bring the axe down upon her. In that moment Angel left himself vulnerable for a fraction of a second.

A fraction of a second too long.

Then he was gone. Just like that. No warning, no slow motion realization of the inevitable.

Just gone.

Faith hadn't even seen which demon had done it.

His ashes were slowly settling on the asphalt of the alleyway before she even registered what had happened.

She dropped her sword. Faith lost herself in that moment. Forgotten was the battle and forgotten was the Lei-Ach demon and Polgara descending on her.

Her vision blurred and darkened around the edges. Faith wasn't sure if it was because she was blacking out from the demon strangling her or it was from the realization she would never see him again.

It was probably the strangling.

Angel had been the one to stand by her when no one else would. He believed in her when no one else believed she could be saved.

And now he was gone.

He was gone because he saved her.

Her!

It was her fault there was a hole in the world; a hole where he wasn't there. She didn't deserve such a sacrifice. It should have been her that was dead. Angel was the hero, the savior. She was the rogue slayer who couldn't be trusted.

Why should she live when he didn't?

Faith started to fade. This was the end.

That wasn't right. She couldn't let Angel's death be in vain. To have him save her life, only to just let some demon kill her. His death had to mean something.

But she was too weak to stop it now. She was too weak to struggle.

A guttural yell echoed from outside the alley and the sound of metal hitting flesh came soon after. Then pressure on her neck was gone and she was on the ground.

She let out a groan and struggled to take in a much needed breath.

"You know, for a slayer as long lived as yourself Faith, I might 'spect a bit more slaying and a little less letting demons strangle you to death. But, what the bloody hell do I know?"

The voice cut through her muddled thoughts.

Then confusion set in.

"Sp…Spike?"

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	2. Guts and Propositions

A/N: Sorry about all the 8's I couldn't get the page breaks and stuff to work right

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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_DEATH is a dialogue between_

_The spirit and the dust._

_"Dissolve," says Death. The Spirit, "Sir,_

_I have another trust."_

_Death doubts it, argues from the ground._

_The Spirit turns away,_

_Just laying off, for evidence,_

_An overcoat of clay._

_ -Emily Dickinson_

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"Caridad! Catch!"

A shout ripped through the madness of the battle.

Caridad looked behind her as Raven threw an axe in her direction to replace her shattered broadsword. Her hand caught it with a practiced ease as she spun her whole body to come around on the thick-skinned clawed demon attempting to kill her.

Green goo sprayed up and all over her face and hair as the axe sliced through the demon.

"Gross." Caridad tried to wipe the goo from her face, but she only succeeded in spreading it around. "Damn it."

"Oh I don't know Caridad, I think it's a good look for you. It brings out your eyes."

"Oh bite me Rave, its not like you look much better," the thin Dominican spat to the younger blonde girl.

Raven smirked looking down at herself. She had demon blood covering most of her body and hair and some of her own blood was mixed in there too.

The slayer was slightly concerned as to the consequences of demon blood seeping into her wounds.

Hopefully she didn't grow horns!

That would totally suck.

An arrow cut through the skull of a nearby demon and it collapsed next to Caridad's feet.

"If you two are quite finished contemplating the fashion of demon guts could you get back to the slaying? That would be great." The freckled redhead came into view as she strapped her crossbow on her back and unsheathed her sword. Two more slayers who were armed to the teeth were following close behind.

"Sure thing Vi." Raven smiled.

"We need to find Faith and see that she's alright. We should never have gotten separated." Caridad said visibly worried.

Raven pulled a sword out of a demon corpse and replied, "Shit happens; now we just have to make sure she didn't go and get herself killed," the brash blond replied, as she blocked off the advances of a purple demon that vaguely resembled Barney the dinosaur; apart from the large amount of drooling and very sharp teeth. She made short work of the not-so friendly dinosaur.

"Alright then," Vi nodded. "Let's get to work."

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Was this death?

All he saw was a blinding white which stretched endlessly in all directions. There was an overwhelming silence and overwhelming calm.

Hadn't he been doing something important?

Then it came to him. The Department of Mysteries. Bellatrix! Harry was in trouble!

Sirius remembered the pain and confusion he saw in his godson's eyes as Sirius had started to fall through the veil. His own heart had retched because he knew he was the cause. He had been too overconfident of his own abilities and it cost him and Harry. Then all thought stopped till he came here.

But, this couldn't be death! He couldn't be dead. Harry needed him.

"Harry will be fine, he's a strong kid."

Sirius's eyes snapped up to a woman he hadn't noticed standing in front of him.

"Who are you?" He asked accusingly.

The woman before him smiled. She looked to be in her mid-twenties perhaps, American if the accent was any indication. Her brown hair fell softly alongside her face and stopped just short of her shoulders. She was wearing a white silky dress and a glow surrounded her.

"My name is Cordelia, and I work for the Powers that Be."

Sirius didn't have the foggiest idea what that meant.

Cordelia seemed to sense his confusion and clarified, "The Powers that Be. They are the self-righteous a-holes who like to control other's destinies, or at least try too. They are the ones who mess with people's lives down there on Earth, like your godson Harry's."

She looked at him sympathetically, "the Powers really do seem to love their prophecies."

So there were higher beings messing with his godson's life and ensuring that his life was a sodding nightmare?

That was more than unsettling. It royally pissed him off. "For being employed by them you certainly don't seem to care for them too much."

"Yeah, well I've known a few champions in my time. Champions who they've royal screwed over. So let's say I can get a little testy about their methods." Cordelia answered with a frown.

"So, where are we and what do you want with me?"

It felt as though she was staring right through him before she spoke.

"You don't beat around the bush. I like that about you Mr. Black. Well, I'll get right down to the nitty gritty."

Sirius didn't like the sound of that.

"This…" she motioned to the white abyss, "is limbo; a place which is between life and death. You see, you're not quite dead yet Sirius, but you certainly aren't alive either. So you are going to be given a choice. The Powers feel it isn't your time to 'go quietly into that good night'. They feel that you are still needed here. You see Sirius, the Powers wanted to offer you a deal. You do something for them and they'll bring you back."

Sirius desperately wanted that. He had to protect Harry had to make sure he would be okay.

"What do you want me to do?"

Cordelia looked to him thoughtfully.

"Well Mr. Tall-dark and broody, I'm here about a girl."

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"Sp…Spike?" her voice rough and cracked.

A face came into view as the person knelt in front of her.

"The one and bleedin' only, firecracker."

Her vision cleared as Spike offered her his hand.

Wasn't Spike dead?

Was she dead?

That might explain why he called her firecracker. Only her mother and Mayor Wilkins had ever called her that. Frankly, those were two people she had no desire to be thinking about right now.

"Don't call me that."

Faith took his offered hand and was lifted up.

"Testy little tart aren't you?"

Faith frowned at that, and picked up her sword.

"I don't know what that means, but I think I should be offended." She looked at him critically, "Aren't you supposed to be dead by the way? And I'm speaking in the completely dead type of dead, not the undead vampire type of dead."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, well it was this whole big thing that is a really long story. But I'm kind of hoping to stay an undead vampire and not be completely dead by the end of this thing, so if you could save the inquisition till after the battle it would be much appreciated."

Faith turned to see more demons coming their way. They looked like Fyarl demons with a few hellhounds in tow.

"Great." Faith murmured.

Spike lifted his own sword awaiting their approach.

"You haven't happened to see Angel anywhere 'round here? I hadn't seen him since the battle started."

Faith's gut sank at the reminder of Angel, but she steeled herself.

Her eyes drifted to the patch of ground she'd be avoiding, where Angel's ashes lay.

She would get through this battle and then she would mourn Angel properly. Then she would mourn Gunn and Wesley too. But for now, Faith would make sure she made it through this alive and make sure these demons didn't get their victory. So that Angel's sacrifice might mean something.

Spike's eyes followed hers and widened upon seeing the ashes.

"Bloody hell."

Faith couldn't tell what emotions coursed through Spike at the realization that his grand-sire was gone and she would probably never know. She wasn't the type to ask such things.

"Are you going to be okay Faith?"

Faith was startled by Spike's show of concern. She focused on the approaching demons and avoided Spike's eyes.

"I've never been okay Spike, but I'll get by." She clenched her jaw tightly. She would not let him see her cry.

"Five by fucking five."

A Fyarl came rushing at her and lashed out with its large fist and she lifted her sword in a quick flourish and chopped off its hand, and its head followed not soon after.

These demons were messing with the wrong slayer.

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	3. Cousins

AN: I've fudged around with the Harry Potter timeline a little. Sorry about all the 8's I couldn't get the page breaks and stuff to work right

AN: I've fudged around with the Harry Potter timeline a little. Basically everything happens the same and at the same intervals its just pushed forward eight years. In the Harry Potter Universe it would be 1996, but for the BtVS universe its 2004. I'm using the BtVS timeline for any years I happen to mention. Just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who happened to care. /i

Disclaimer: BtVS and HP aren't mine. Idea and OCs are.

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_Angel: I know what's goin' on with you._

_Faith: Join the club. Everybody seems to have a theory._

_Angel: Hmm. But I know what it's like to take a life. To feel a future, a world of possibilities, snuffed out by your own hand. I know the power in it. The exhilaration. It was like a drug for me._

_Faith: Yeah? Sounds like you need some help. A professional maybe._

_Angel: Hmm. A professional couldn't have helped me. It stopped when I got my soul back. My human heart._

_Faith: Goody for you. If we're gonna party, let's get on with it. Otherwise, could you let me out of these things?_

_Angel: Faith, you have a choice. You've tasted something few ever do. I mean, to kill without remorse is to feel like a god._

_Faith: Right now, all I feel is a cramp in my wrist, so let me go!_

_Angel: But you're not a god. You're not much more than a child. Going down this path will ruin you. You can't imagine the price for true evil._

_Faith: Yeah? I hope evil takes MasterCard._

_ -Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3, Episode 15 "Consequences"_

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"A girl?"

Cordelia placed a hand on her hip and stifled a laugh.

"Yeah a girl. One very important girl actually," she looked him straight in the eye "a girl you've met before. But then she's a lot different than you would remember".

Now that had Sirius's curiosity peaked.

"Who is she?"

Cordelia sighed.

"She's your cousin…or your first cousin's daughter. Does that make her a cousin too? I was never clear on that." Cordelia looked thoughtful.

"I believe that would make her my first cousin once removed. Now if we could get to the part where you actually tell me who she is?"

Sirius didn't have a clue who she could be. Maybe Nymphadora? That was the only female cousin Sirius could think of that he would even considering helping.

Cordelia lifted her hands up in assent. "Alright, alright keep your pants on. And it's not Nymphadora. The girl I'm speaking of hasn't been in the wizarding world for twenty years. She doesn't even remember it." She took a step closer to Sirius.

"Her name is Faith Lehane, but you knew her by a different name: Eris Lestrange."

Sirius's jaw dropped. Well he certainly hadn't expected that.

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_Summer 1983_

_Sirius stayed in his room all the time these days. He hated the summer and he hated the way his family looked at him like a disease._

_He was friends with mudbloods AND he was in Griffindor. That was almost as bad as being a squib in the eyes of his mother._

_But they hadn't disowned him yet, surprisingly. Perhaps they still held out hope that he might change and be more like his brother._

_Sirius heard noises emanating from downstairs._

_Probably more of his mother's pure blood friends he thought with contempt._

_"Auntie Walburga!" the shriek echoed up the stairs._

_He let out a groaned._

_Great._

_It was** her.**_

_He promptly shut his door to drown them out and grabbed a book sitting on his piles of school things._

_He read the cover: Hairy Snout, Human Heart_

_"Huh."_

_Sirius recalled hearing about this book when it came out. Apparently it was written anonymously by a werewolf and accounted the author's battle with lycanthropy._

_It was probably Moony's. It must have gotten mixed in with his things when they'd been packing for the summer._

_He shrugged. Could be interesting._

_Sirius took the book and flopped down on his bed and opened it to the first page._

_He'd gotten a few pages in when he heard his door creak open._

_Sirius's eyes poked out from over the book. There was someone at his door, a very short someone._

_"Kreacher! I thought I told you to stay out of my room!" He growled._

_The intruder shuffled a bit farther through the door and a little more light caste over the figure._

_It was a little girl._

_A little girl with long shining dark hair. She looked at him wide eyed and curious._

_"Hi." She said with a tiny smile and then proceeded to walk around his room._

_Sirius set Moony's book down._

_"Uh…hi?"_

_She had crawled up on his chair across from him and started to rifle through some letters on his dresser which he had gotten from Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail. It was clear this girl had zero sense of boundaries._

_"Hey! Don't touch those!"_

_There was no doubt in his mind that this was Bella's daughter. Eris, his mom had mentioned her once when they were still speaking to each other._

_Had to be. She looked just like her. Only in miniature. The only difference he could see between her and her mother was that Eris's hair seemed a few shades lighter._

_Eris turned to look at him as her hand released a now crumpled note from James. While continuing to look at him she grabbed his sneakoscope which had been lying next to the letters. He had bought it at Hogsmeade in his 3rd year at Hogwarts._

_It didn't start spinning or whistling. She was just being annoying and that wasn't really the same as being untrustworthy._

_Eris gave him a defiant look._

_"Want."_

_She stared at the Sneakoscope in her hand and clasped both hands around it._

_"Take."_

_She got off the chair and onto the floor and started to try and spin it like a regular top._

_"Have."_

_Sirius rolled his eyes. "My, aren't you charming."_

_Eris gave him an innocent looking smile._

_However because she looked so much like her mother, Sirius thought she looked decidedly evil._

_She finally got the sneakoscope to start spinning on the ground but once it got going it preceded to roll out of her reach and under Sirius's bed. Eris frowned but didn't go after it._

_Sirius knelt down in front of her. How old was she? Three? Four? He didn't really pay too much attention to the goings on of Bellatrix's life…he tried to ignore them entirely._

_"I'm Eris. Who are you?" She inched closer to him._

_She was certainly friendlier than Bellatrix._

_Her mother was sure to weed that out of her soon enough._

_"I'm Sirius. Your mother's cousin."_

_"Oh." her brow furrowed. "My mum said bad things about you."_

_Talk about the understatement of the century._

_"Yeah. We don't exactly 'get on'."_

_Her eyes drifted to his Chudley Cannon's poster on the wall next to them. She leapt up and readjusted her dress._

_Did all children have such a lack of attention span?_

_"Whats that?"_

_She stood in front of the poster enthralled by the players swooping past in their brooms._

_Sirius raised an eyebrow._

_"That's the Chudley Cannons, they're a professional Quidditch team. They aren't that good, frankly I can't remember the last time they won, but…"_

_Eris spun and stared at the doorway._

_"What's wrong?"_

_She looked to him and back to the door. Sirius could hear the sneakoscope begin to spin and whistle furiously from underneath the bed._

_Bullocks._

_"ERIS!! Where are you?!"_

_The girl paled._

_"Mum's gonna be so mad at me! She said…she said… 'Don't you talk to that Seer-e-us Black, he's bad, he's a mugg-ul lover, he's…' she said…"_

_The door opened all the way hitting the wall. One of Sirius's picture frames fell from the wall and shattered._

_Bellatrix stood at the doorway and her face was unreadable for a moment as she took in the scene before her. Then her anger threatened to boil over as she saw her daughter standing by Sirius who was still kneeling down in front of her._

_She rushed in and as Sirius started to get up she shoved him roughly. He fell onto his bed. Bellatrix grabbed Eris's hand and dragged her to the door._

_Sirius saw that his own mother had finally made it to his bedroom as well._

_This was just getting better and better._

_Walburga took Eris's hand from Bellatrix. She looked at her son with disgust before leading the bawling little girl back downstairs._

_She could be heard talking to Eris as they walked away, "Now Eris, I don't know what my son told you, but I want you to…" then her voice faded._

_He stared at the place where his mother and Eris had been before finally resigning to his fate and looking in Bellatrix's direction. She rushed at him quicker than he thought possible._

_"You stay away from my DAUGHTER! If I see your mudblood loving face anywhere near her again, I'll kill you myself! And that is not an idle threat!" she pulled out her wand and pressed it hard against his throat._

_He strained a smile._

_"Alright fine. But I'll have you know that completely ruins this huge elaborate plan I had. You see, I was going to brainwash your daughter in to wanting to marry a filthy muggle when she grows up and then..."_

_"Sermosubsisto!" Bellatrix growled as she flicked her wand._

_Sirius felt this throat constrict and could no longer speak._

_In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have provoked her when she had her wand practically stabbing him in his jugular._

_"You just give me a reason! You dirty blood traitor!"_

_Sirius's eyes filled with rage. He grabbed for his wand in his pocket and Bellatrix smirked._

_"Expelliarumus!" his wand was knocked from his hand as Sirius was slammed into the bed's headboard._

_Bellatrix sneered at him and proceeded to stalk out of his room and slammed the door behind her._

_Sirius wasn't sure how long he sat there staring at the door._

_That was it._

_He couldn't live here anymore. His mother just let Bellatrix assault him! All he had done was talk to Bellatrix's daughter. He hadn't even done anything wrong! And it had been the girl who had walked into his room and started talking to him anyway!_

_His mom didn't give a piss about him. Sirius had always known as much, but to see the way his mother looked at him so harshly when he'd done nothing at all had made it that much more clear._

_Then having Bellatrix attack him in his own bedroom! He had no reason to stay and not only that, Sirius didn't feel safe here anymore._

_Bellatrix had threatened to kill him for Merlin's sake!_

_This wasn't his home. It never was._

_He got up and picked up his wand doing a quick counter-curse to the spell Bellatrix had used on him. Good thing Sirius had been practicing a few non-verbal spells during school or this would have been considerably more difficult._

_Sirius grabbed his suitcase and started to pack everything he could; his books, clothes, letters, pictures and his broom. He headed toward the door and then remembered something. He crawled underneath his bed and grabbed the now silent sneakoscope and placed it in his pocket._

_He would go to Prongs's. Sirius knew James's parents wouldn't mind._

_He didn't hear any voices when he opened his door, Bellatrix must have left._

_Sirius dragged his suitcase to the stairs. A door creaked open and his fifteen year old brother Regulus stood behind it, "where are you going?" he asked snidely._

_Sirius dropped his bag. "You can tell mum if you like. I'm leaving."_

_Regulus stared. "Leaving?"_

_"I don't have any reason to stay." He continued down the stairs._

_Sirius didn't look at his brother as he left. He didn't ever see the devastated look that was etched on his brother's face as he walked out the door._

_Sirius Black left Number 12 Grimmauld Place and he never looked back._

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"You can't be serious."

Cordelia grinned slyly, "No. You're Sirius. I'm Cordelia. I thought we'd already been over this."

Sirius ignored her, "I thought she was dead, and even if she's not… Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?"

Cordelia said nothing and let him continue his rant.

Sirius was starting to lose it, "You're asking me to help the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange!"

He started to pace. "That's the bitch that killed me in the first place!"

Sirius put a hand through his hair, "that's…well…are you blooming mental?"

Cordelia's face hardened.

"Look mister I'll be straight with you," she poked a finger into his chest, "I never particularly liked Faith and we didn't get along. No 'alongs' where got. But, and please try to remember this, she's had a real rotten life handed to her. She has enough problems outside of your prejudices, so you would do well to give her the courtesy of realizing that she is not her mother. Who a person is related to does not make them who they are. I should think that you of all people would understand that."

Sirius's mouth quickly snapped shut. Talk about having his foot in his mouth. He could be such a stupid git sometimes.

"What happened to her then? I thought she had been murdered even though her body was never found. People thought someone with a grudge against Bellatrix had done it. That she was killed by someone whose child had been murdered or tortured by Bellatrix's hand."

Cordelia shook her head, "It wasn't any grieving family that took her."

"It was the Watcher's council."

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_Reviews please! :)_


	4. Watchers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Angel, or Harry Potter. I only own the OCs**

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_All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.  
-Scott Alexander _

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"What's the Watcher's council?"

Cordelia looked at Sirius like he was stupid.

"My god! What do they teach at those wizard schools of yours?" She shook her head in mock distaste.

"The Watcher's Council is this group of stuffy old men who have used young girls to fight their battles for them for thousands of years." Cordelia crossed her arms and continued, "Girls who they thought of as nothing more than dispensable weapons against the forces of darkness. They seemed to forget that Slayers were more than that. They forgot they were just scared little girls who needed love and friendship just as much as any child does."

Slayers…that sounded familiar. He had the vague recollection of learning about them. Maybe it had been in Defense against the Dark Arts in his 5th or 6th year.

The slayer was some woman with the strength to fight vampires and other dangerous magical creatures but the professor had said that it was nothing more than a story.

"I was under the impression the Slayer was a myth."

Cordelia smiled.

"That is what most of the wizarding world thinks. Although, some of you are a bit more informed. You don't know too much of the slayer mainly because you wand witches and wizards keep to yourselves and you don't kill too many normal people, so you didn't really show up on the Slayer's radar."

She shrugged, "Also, the Slayer tends to deal with more apocalyptie type things and they wouldn't pay that much mind to the infighting of a group of witches and wizards."

Apocalyptie? What was this girl on?

"However, your community did spark a little of the Council's attention when Voldemort started killing muggles. The slayer back then did stop a few of the death eaters from killing people once or twice, but she had other concerns as well. Plus, the Watcher's Council is, or was, a group of pencil pushing morons who took eons to get around to doing anything they didn't deem a suitable means of their time. Before they took any direct action against him, your godson came along and the killings stopped. So the Council moved on."

It was strange to think that Voldemort; the most feared man in the wizarding world, was only considered a minor threat to these people. He hated to imagine the type of things they did consider a threat. Sirius couldn't begin to imagine what those girls had to endure.

"So they didn't think Voldemort was dangerous?" He asked with his brow furrowed.

"No, not really. But, no one ever accused them of being intelligent. Well, not me anyway. He is dangerous and the Powers that Be see that. He just wasn't the dangerous the Council was used to so they didn't see him for what he was. The Watcher's Council didn't have the foresight to realize his ultimate goal, and that it came directly in conflict with their desire to live. By the time they would have realized the threat they'd have been too late."

Sirius thought they sounded an awful lot like the Ministry of Magic.

"So are you saying that Eris is one of these…Slayers?"

Cordelia nodded rolling her eyes, "No shit, Sherlock."

Sirius took that as an affirmative.

"So what happened to her?"

Cordelia motioned to her left as a large stone object slowly came into view, "I figured that instead of telling you about Faith, I could simply show you."

Sirius took a step up to the object as it came into focus. It was a large stone receptacle with a liquid swirling around inside it. It was covered in intricate runes.

"A pensieve?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Cordelia traced the runes carved into the stone as she strolled around it.

"It's not really a pensieve exactly. You see, I could have shown you without this," she gestured to the swirling liquid.

"But you thought you would give me a little taste of home?" Sirius suggested.

Cordelia nodded.

"That. And I have a flair for the dramatic," she added with a grin.

Sirius barked out a laugh at that. He came up to stand beside her and the pensieve.

Cordelia looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

So, he slowly stuck his hand into the Pensieve and felt it begin to pull him in.

Cordelia watched as Sirius plunged in the water. "See you on the other side."

Then Sirius fell into darkness.

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Rupert Giles was tired.

The rebuilding of the Watcher's Council had been a tiring process to say the least.

At first, they were extremely out of money, just barely above flat broke. A few of the slayers and watchers had even started to work day jobs just to fund the Council's efforts to find new slayers.

There were still a few remaining Watchers who hadn't been killed by the First. Those of them that held no grudges toward Buffy and crew were welcomed into the fold of the new council.

Xander, Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Faith, Wood and later on a few of the trained watchers had gone off to all points of the globe locating the newly awakened Slayers. Unfortunately the process had been slow since the lists of potentials had been lost, along with the majority of the Council's records.

They had to rely completely on magic and the occasional news report from the National Enquirer about young girls who could bend steel or lift cars.

There were hundreds of slayers out there, maybe even more, and they needed to be found before anyone with a less than benevolent agenda found them first. The last thing they needed was another fiasco like they'd had with Faith.

Giles had rented a small flat in Clerkenwell just outside London where they had run their base operations until they could secure enough funds to build a new Council.

It had been a stroke of luck when the crew working recovery at the wreckage of old Council building had discovered a large vault in the remnants of Quentin Traver's old office.

Surprisingly, it had withstood explosion that ripped through the council building without so much as a dent.

Clearly Travers had placed several protection spells on it to ensure it could not be broken into. Eventually they got it open after an extensive effort.

It contained several priceless books; a few which dabbled a bit too deeply into the dark arts for Rupert's liking. But there was something else in that safe that changed everything for the New Council.

The safe contained several documents with the number of a private bank account in Switzerland. Quentin Travers had been funneling money out of the Watcher's Council for almost a full decade.

Rupert shouldn't have expected any less from the man, he'd always been a self serving prick.

It was a lot of money, more than Giles could have hoped for. In US dollars Quentin had accumulated roughly 80 million dollars in his time as the head of the council. It made Giles wonder if Travers had been having dealings with a few less than savory people during his time as head of the council. He wouldn't have been surprised if Quentin received money from various demons to ensure they would never face any of the Council's ire.

Regardless, he never thought he'd be so happy to find out that his former boss had ripped off the Watcher's Council and possibly been abiding demon activity for money. He'd also bet anything Quentin would be rolling in his grave if he found out he'd helped Rupert.

They had also started receiving a yearly grant from the British government who'd been well aware and quite supportive of their contributions to the world.

In the last month they had finally finished construction of the New Watchers Council over top where the previous one had stood. With the new influx of money they had even set up several Council safe houses all over the world for slayers and their watchers. They had also gotten the watchers and other employees on a steady payroll. The older slayers working for them got paychecks too.

They didn't have to worry about getting a day job anymore.

The younger ones that were still in training had savings accounts set up in their names where their money would go until they were old enough and stationed somewhere with a watcher.

Then the Scooby gang had gone their separate ways and things would never be like they had in Sunnydale. Not for them.

Willow had left with Kennedy to South America. Xander was still in Africa looking for Slayers, while Andrew, Dawn and Buffy were all in Italy.

Apparently Buffy was dating someone named the Immortal. He didn't really want to ask too much about him. If her usual tastes in men were any indication, this Immortal character was not exactly a white hat.

Things were really starting to look up for the New Watcher's Council and calm had settled over.

Which was a sure sign that something very bad was about to happen.

Giles heard the sound of his personal cell phone ringing on top of his desk.

Apparently, one of the girls had thought it would be absolutely hilarious to change his ring tone to "Baby Got Back".

He didn't have the slightest clue how to change it back either. Rupert Giles could translate Sumarian, Aramaic, various demon languages, you name it. But put a piece of technology in front of him, and he was clueless.

_"I like Big Butts and I can not lie! All you other brother's can't deny! That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get sp-"_

"Rupert Giles speaking" Giles flipped open the phone

"Hi Rupert, its Braddock Kavanagh."

Kavanagh? Why was the head watcher at the Cleveland Hellmouth calling? He wasn't due to check in for another two days and he usually called the land line, not his personal cell. He got the distinct impression whatever Brad was about to tell him was very very bad.

He pulled off his glasses and started cleaning them with a fury.

Kavanaugh and several other watchers were located in Cleveland along with twenty slayers ranging from fifteen to twenty one years old.

They were slayers and watchers who had volunteered freely to guard the Hellmouth over Cleveland. They were also among the best.

Faith was there as well. She was helping out with the girls, but Braddock was the one in charge.

Faith had emphatically stated that she didn't want the responsibility of all those girls.

She was still reeling from her experience back in Sunnydale. Those few days she had replaced Buffy hadn't turned out well. Faith felt deeply responsible for what happened even though no one blamed her. Caleb and the First had her and Giles and the Scoobies fooled. But it didn't seem to change the way she felt.

He imagined her resentment of the ordeal also had a lot to do with the fact that Buffy had, once again, been proven right while she'd been proven wrong.

Giles felt a kinship with Faith that he'd never admitted to her. He had done things he hadn't been particularly been proud of as a younger man, and a few as an older one.

He knew how appealing darkness was and how so much easier it appeared, especially to someone who felt they had run out options like Faith had.

But, by the time you realized how deep you'd gotten yourself the darkness consumed you.

Willow had run into much the same problem with the dark, but then Willow's transgressions had been eased by her friends. They helped her carry her burden.

Willow had friends that were as close to her as family, Giles included.

Faith never really had anyone.

Except Angel.

But even with him, he hadn't always been there for her. She spent the majority of her time without a real safety net to fall back on.

She had done so much with very few people supporting her.

There were a hell of a lot of people betting on her to fail.

But she trudged on and ignored the looks people gave her. Faith endured an almost constant questioning and suspicion from those around her.

Faith was a stronger person than she gave herself credit for. It took a lot of courage to crawl back out of the hole she had dug for herself instead of just resigning to it and simply digging herself deeper.

He had a deep respect for her because of that. Giles just hoped she could stay on track and prove all those people who didn't think she could make it wrong.

He had been happy to discover she'd gotten closer to the slayers and watchers in Cleveland over the past few months. Braddock had even reported that she had become especially close to the seventeen year old slayer Raven and they were starting to become nearly inseparable.

She hadn't shut herself out completely and that was a good sign. Giles had been worried after the incident with Robin Wood.

Giles had thought she would perhaps open up to Robin. But then they broke up almost immediately after Sunnydale, and Faith stopped talking to him entirely.

Maybe eventually she wouldn't have to face all her internal battles alone.

"Braddock? What seems to be the problem? You sound a little haggard." Giles took a seat at his desk.

The Irishman on the line let out a sigh, "Yah, well it would seem the girls failed to inform me 'til now that late last night Faith had Girard, one of the local mages downtown, create a portal to take her and five of the older girls to Los Angeles."

Giles nearly snapped his eyeglasses in two in his hand.

"What? Why would she do that?"

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds.

"Do you not know?" There was another pause. "Rupert, Los Angeles is in flames…demons have overrun it. It's all over the news, although they've failed to mention the demons."

Giles's eyes widened. He hadn't been in front of a television in about a week. He'd been going through paperwork almost nonstop.

Kavanaugh continued. "From what I've heard from a few of my contacts sir, Angel had not aligned himself with Wolfram and Hart after all. It was a ruse; he fooled Wolfram and Hart and discovered the identities of members of a group they had charged with ensuring an apocalypse. Angel killed them all sir. Then Wolfram and Hart retaliated."

Why hadn't someone here told him about this? Did no one think it was important? He gritted his teeth. So much for that rest he was hoping for.

"I see. And Faith, she went without consulting you?" Giles put back on his glasses.

Braddock scoffed a little, "You know how Miss Lehane is sometimes Rupert…and you know how she feels about that vampire. The moment she heard, she grabbed the girls while they were on patrol and ran to Girard's." His voice softened a little and he continued, "I also suspect Faith wished to go without informing me in case I might have told her not to go. Better to ask forgiveness than permission."

Giles sighed. "Yes. Quite. Thank you for calling Braddock. I will be sending in reinforcements to help out your girls right away. I'll call when I know more."

"Yes, thank you. Rupert." He answered gratefully then the line went dead.

Giles closed his phone. He got up from his seat out walked of his office stopping at his secretary's desk with his eyes harsh.

"Genevieve, why wasn't I informed of the current situation in Los Angeles? It's overrun with demons for Christ's sake!"

The girl looked startled. "I, uh, I thought you didn't want anything to do with Los Angeles Mr. Giles. I…. thought you wanted nothing to do with Angel and his people and since it was his town, that he and his people would be taking care of it. I also just assumed you knew about the demon riot so I didn't think to mention it…"

Giles cut her off curtly.

"Genevieve, the next time you have a 'thought'…just let it go."

He stormed down the hall. Giles regretted being so callous to her, but he was a little irritated at the moment.

Rupert opened the door to the training rooms where a few of the watchers and slayers were sparing.

"Milo can I speak to you for a minute." The lanky watcher handed his sparing gloves to the teenage girl next to him. She continued working with the preteen girl that Milo had been training.

He jogged up the Giles. "How can I help sir?"

"I want you to contact your mother Cimerron at the Coven. I am going to need to secure an immediate transport to Los Angeles for me and several of the girls."

"Yes, I'm quite sure my mother could help you with that. I'll call right away."

Giles thanked him and Milo rushed off.

Giles flipped open his phone. He had to make a few calls.

Why'd he have to go and jinx everything by thinking it might actually be peaceful for a change?

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_review. :)_


	5. Memories

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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_  
She used to love jokes, painful ones. She loved hurting people. She thought it would lessen the hurt and loneliness she felt, but it never did.  
-S. Tepper _

_Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.  
-Michel de Montaigne_

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"Where are we?"

The room was pitch black and it took a moment for Sirius's eyes to adjust. Cordelia stood beside him checking her hair in a mirror hanging on the wall.

"Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange's estate. About a year after you left Grimmauld Place."

Sirius saw Eris sound asleep in the overly extravagant bed in the center of the room. It made her appear even smaller than her four year old form. Sirius spotted someone else. There at the edge of the bed sat Bellatrix Lestrange. She was watching her daughter with an expression that was likely as close to affectionate as Bellatrix could manage.

Sirius took in the sight skeptically. He found it unlikely that Bellatrix Lestrange had any motherly instincts coursing through her body.

Bellatrix gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead before gliding past Sirius and out the door. He glared at her as she walked past but then returned his attention back to the girl.

Eris was still for a moment then her eyes popped open. She inspected her room to make sure she was gone. She slid out of the bed without a sound and shuffled to the door sticking her ear up to it listening for any footsteps. Once she was confident that her mother had gone off to bed, she opened the door and slipped downstairs. Cordelia and Sirius followed after.

Sirius smirked.

"She's a sneaky one."

Eris quietly entered the kitchen and her eyes light up once she saw her goal. Getting up on her tip toes she grabbed a jar off the counter. She proceeded to lug it over to the kitchen table opening the lid. Inside was a very large quantity of candies. Bella must have spoiled her rotten.

Sirius crossed his arms and sighed.

"What? You wanted to show me how Eris liked to sneak sweets after bedtime?"

Cordelia glared at him, "Just shut up and watch, dog-boy."

Eris snatched a Chocolate Frog from out of the jar ripping open the packaging and throwing it along with the trading card to the floor. She held the frog tightly in her small fist. Just as she was about to stick it in her mouth it slipped out of her grasp and started to hop away.

Eris yelped softly. She tried to catch it but appeared to be failing miserably. She knocked over a vase, but luckily it did not shatter as it hit the floor. It must have been charmed or something, Sirius thought idly.

The frog made it to an open window where a light breeze blew into the kitchen. The frog leapt out of sight.

The girl was clearly frustrated and she huffed in annoyance. Eris opened the door to go after the frog ignoring the entire jar fully of candy still sitting on the table. She was intent on getting that Chocolate Frog back.

Eris closed the door behind her.

Sirius had a very bad feeling about this and if the masked figures approaching from the shadows were any indication, he was right.

The group of in black rushed past Sirius and Cordelia descending on the girl. Eris was intently searching through the shrubberies below the window and didn't even notice their approach. One of the men pulled out a damp cloth as he seized her and placed the cloth over her mouth. Her screams where muffled and she struggled in vain. Sirius saw the terror and confusion in the little girl's eyes and his heart went out to her despite himself.

It wasn't long until she passed out and was limp in her attacker's arms.

"We've got her," one of the men whispered into a rectangular object in his hand.

The man holding the girl tossed her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began to stalk off into the night. Three of them held back and a taller one spoke in a hushed voice.

"Make it look like she was murdered. Leave traces of dark magic on the area. We don't want **'them'** coming to look for her."

The other two nodded and started to get to work.

Sirius looked to Cordelia, who was currently poking her hand through the head of one of the men close to where they stood.

"Why'd the Watcher's Council take her, Cordelia? Did they know the Lestrange's were evil?"

Cordelia shook her head, "No. They didn't have a clue about the Lestrange's and their alliance with Voldemort."

She frowned, "The Council only knew they were a part of the wizarding world. And that was enough for them. They didn't want a potential to be in the hands of a wizard. So, they sent these operatives here to watch the house for an opportunity to snatch her. They thought all wand wizards were a threat and feared what they would do to a slayer."

Cordelia crossed her arms and shrugged, "Of course. Watchers practiced forms of magic too. Those big hypocrites."

She stuck out her tongue at the men now chanting something in Latin from an old tome.

The scene started to fade.

"The Council decided to place her far away from her former family and erased her memory. They had hundreds of potentials to keep track of and they didn't exactly look at the quality of family they placed her with. It wasn't like the Watchers Council was going to keep her. None of the watchers wanted to care for a four year old girl. They just wanted her with a family who wouldn't put up too much of a fight to keep her when she came of age."

Eris rushed past them and looked on the verge of tears. She looked to be in her early teens perhaps. She appeared even more like her mother than before. Except for muggle clothing, of course.

Bellatrix Lestrange would sooner die than debase herself in such a fashion.

They were in a run down apartment that looked as though it had not been cleaned in months. Screams could be heard coming from the other room and a clearly intoxicated older woman stumbled out of it.

"Where do you think you're going!? You ungrateful little…"

Faith spun around to meet the drunken woman.

"Ungrateful! What the hell do I have to be grateful for from you? You barely acknowledge I'm here half the time cause you're too drunk or too busy screwing some John you picked up off the street! And hell! Just last week you offered me up to some old foggie just so you could score yourself some more blow!"

The woman slapped Faith hard across the face and Faith's head whipped backward. The rage that Sirius could see in Faith's eyes was akin what he had seen in Bellatrix's at the Department of Mysteries right before she'd cursed him squarely in the chest.

It was unsettling to see such anger coming from a girl so young. But then, Sirius couldn't really say he blamed her.  
He would have been angry too.

From what he could understand from the conversation this woman was about as loving as a dementor.

He thought for a mere moment that she would have been better off being raised by Bella….Sirius shuddered at the thought immediately disregarding it. The last thing the world needed was another Bellatrix Lestrange running around.

There was a stifled moan from across the room and a dodgy looking man crawled off the couch. He'd apparently been woken up from the commotion between Faith and her fake mother.  
He slurred. "What the he…hell is going on here? Ma…Maggie did you make me more money tonight… hun?"

The 'hun' seemed more an afterthought than a genuine endearment. Faith's 'mother' turned to address him, but Faith pushed her against the kitchen counter.

"Why do you let him do this to you? He's a sleeze! Can't you see he's just using you? He doesn't give a shit about you!"

Her 'mother' didn't say anything and just stared at Faith. But, the man hobbled over to them angry.

"Don't you talk about me like that little girl! I outta teach you a lesson, you outta learn a little respect!"  
He came at her and Faith swiftly kneed him the crotch. He went down like a rock.

"Sorry Jerry. I don't want to be one of your whores."

Faith looked on as her mother went to help him up. She looked at her with loathing and a bit of disappointment. She ran out of the house trying to stop the tears from running down her face.

Then their surroundings changed again.

Now Eris, or Faith, looked a little older. Maybe by a few years.

She was being led into an office by two men in uniforms. They had a similar demeanor to aurors. What did muggles call them again? Cups?

The men sat Faith in a chair and left. There was a formally dressed woman sitting at the desk in front of her who gave Faith a genuine smile.

"Hello Ms. Lehane. I'm Dr. Lillian Monroe."

Faith raised an eyebrow at her British accent but didn't respond.

Lillian continued, "According to your file, you are sixteen years old. Is that correct?"

Faith shrugged. "So I've been told."

The woman smiled again, "It also says here that you have been in and out of juvenile detention 5 times in the past 2 years, and that you have failed to stay with a foster family for more than a few months. Why is that Faith?"

The girl sighed and glowered at the woman. "I don't know lady. You're the one with the file, why don't you tell me?"

Lillian ignored the girl's off-putting demeanor, "I think you feel like you don't belong anywhere, Ms. Lehane. I think you believe yourself different in a way you can not really express." She gave Faith a knowing look, "And you are different Faith. You are very special."

Faith rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the pep talk lady, but is there a point to this? I'm not really one for talking about my feelings and getting all touchy-feely. So can I just leave already?"

The older woman closed the file and pushed it aside. "I'm here to help you Faith. The fact that you don't want me to help is not going to change that."

She pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

"Now tell me Faith, have you had any strange dreams lately? Dreams where perhaps you were someone else, maybe someone from another time?" Faith's eyes widened, "Maybe a dream where you fought monsters and killed them, or in some instances they killed you?"

Faith's lips tightened into a thin line and she looked at the woman suspiciously.

"How could you possibly know that?" Then, Faith looked worried, "Is this some kind of psychological thing? It means I'm bat-shit crazy doesn't it?"

Sirius chuckled.

The older woman followed suit, "No Faith. It doesn't mean you're crazy."

She stood and walked over to the window.

"But, I'm going to tell you something and it most definitely will sound crazy."

Faith looked interested, but tried to remain nonchalant, "And what is that?"

Lillian clasped her hands behind her back. "Vampires and demons are real. And you, Faith Marie Lehane, have the potential to become the Chosen One. You have the potential to be the only person in the entire world that can truly stand against them."

Faith stared blankly at her for a long time and then broke the silence, laughing hysterically.

"Okay. I can honestly say that was not what I was expecting."

She got up from her chair and started to pace around the office, "Geez! You should be the one getting the psychological evaluation, not me!"

"I can prove it to you, Faith. I've convinced the state to give me temporary custody of you, for the time being. And, if you agree, I'll show you vampires and demons and I can teach you how to slay them." The older woman said calmly.

Faith gave her an incredulous look. "Okay. Let's say I do believe you for like a second… and I don't…I really really don't." she knelt closer to Lillian, "Why do you want to help me and why do you know about these demons?"

The woman placed her hands on Faith's shoulders and the girl flinched a bit at the touch.

"Because Faith, I am your Watcher."

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_Reviews welcome :)_


	6. Mistakes and Consequences

**Disclaimer: Not for profit, don't own anything but the idea...**

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_"There is luxury in self reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us."  
-Oscar Wilde_

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"Hey kid! Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Spike shouted as he dodged an axe coming right at his head.

"I was watching. Vampire." Raven emphasized the latter with disgust.

Spike put up his hands in protest.

"Look. I'm one of the good guys. Got a soul 'n everything. Honest."

"You're not Angel, blood-sucker! Faith told me that he had brown hair and she definitely didn't mention anything about a British accent." The girl began to come at him again.

But, then a hand held firm on her shoulder stopping her in her tracks.

Raven looked at it in shock, and then saw its owner.

"Faith?" She looked to her questioningly.

Faith released her hand from the blonde and gestured to Spike.

"This is Spike and he's on our side."

Faith looked to the vampire with a smirk. She seemed to recall that their confrontation at the cemetery in Sunnydale occurred in pretty much the same manner.

Then B had punched her…

That bitch.

Raven looked him over warily, "Spike? As in burnt to a crisp caved in Hellmouth- Spike?"

He grinned, "Ah. So you've heard of me?"

Caridad and Vi ran up with the other slayers and stopped as they spotted Spike.

Vi walked up cautiously and then proceeded to poke him in the shoulder to see if he was actually there.

"Ow! Watch it red!" Spike rubbed his shoulder.

"How are you not dead?" Caridad looked pensive.

"Wolfram and Hart brought me back…. the amulet did it; I think the amulet was intended for Angel or something. I was never really clear on the reason. The Wolf, Ram & Hart are strange buggers, their reasoning is sometimes hard to figure."

Faith looked around the downtown street they were standing on. It looked like the demons where finally starting to die down. They were still a few stragglers, however. Raven came up to her as the other slayers continued to talk to Spike.

"I'm glad you're okay Faith. I was worried when we lost track of you…"

Faith gave the younger girl a small grin, "I'm glad you're okay too."

Now that was something that would have been more difficult for her to admit, not so long ago.

She must have been getting soft in her old age.

Raven was a good kid. And whoever named her did a piss poor job; she wasn't anything like her name indicated. She was blonde and bubbly. Not dark and mopey.

'Course, it wasn't like Faith's name was all that fitting either.

Raven wasn't much like Faith on outward appearances. But, the girl looked up to her like wicked mad. And she knew about what she'd done and didn't care. It was nice to have someone like that, even if she didn't really understand how someone could look past all that as completely as Raven had.

But, the thing that made them so close was that they both lived for slaying. They had downright passion for it. It was nice to have a kindred spirit around who didn't look at being the slayer as a job.

Or worse, a burden.

Not to mention any names.

Starts with a B, ends with and Uffy.

Faith and Raven lived for it; the anticipation, the satisfying slay. There was nothing better. Except maybe sex.

Well, for Faith anyway. Faith didn't want to know about the younger girl's sexual exploits anytime soon. Raven was like a kid sister, and even though Faith had lost her virginity when she was much younger than the girl…. it was just different.

If she met any guy Raven brought around, Faith would be sure to threaten them with dismemberment if the did anything to hurt her.

Her thoughts were brought back to the present by a mounting wind and the feeling that something was decidedly off.

"Something strange is going on." Raven murmured echoing Faith's own thoughts.

A silver shimmering portal appeared in front of them causing an even larger gust of wind. It would have blown anyone who was not a slayer or vampire clear off their feet.

Faith tightened her grip on her sword.

"Not good."

He was followed by ten slayers, a few watchers, and an older woman wearing an airy green dress.

She couldn't decide if she was disappointed or relieved that it hadn't been an onslaught of more demons. Faith was still itching to kick some more demon ass.

She wasn't ready for the battle to end, mainly because then that meant she would have to think of something other than fighting and that would only lead to thinking of Angel.

She just wasn't ready for that.

And it was really starting to become a full blown curse wasn't it? Back in Sunnydale when she'd told that lying bitch Gwendolyn Post that her authority figures tended to end up dead, she'd only said it because she was still reeling from Lillian's death.

But, seriously this was starting to get a bit ridiculous.

Her mom; drug overdose, Lillian; murdered in front of her, Gwendolyn; turned out to be evil and then incinerated, Mayor Wilkins; evil and then blown up, Wesley; stabbed with his own knife, Angel….

Maybe she should tell Giles and Kavanagh to sod off before they were pushing up daisies as well.

Giles lowered his shoulder stock crossbow as he saw Faith. He looked visibly relieved.

"Faith! I came as soon as I heard, Braddock called and said that you'd gone to LA."

She was about to reply when Spike rushed by her. He proceeded to haul off and deck Giles.

"Why the hell didn't you help her Rupert!? She was dieing and you just told us to sod off! What? You couldn't be buggered to at least try and save someone's life?"

The slayers that Giles had brought with him descended on Spike, but Giles called them off dazed and visibly confused.

"Spike?"

Spike just continued his rant.

"Winifred Burkle was the nicest and kindest girl I ever knew! And you just left her out to dry because you didn't like Peaches! He only asked you to help save someone's life, not sign away your soul to Wolfram and Hart! Un-bleeding-believable!"

Giles sputtered; ignoring the fact that Spike should be dead, opting to defend himself instead before delving into that little issue.

"We didn't have the resources to help even if we'd tried! Willow was indisposed and I couldn't get in contact with her regardless of the reason. Not only that, Angel and his people were working for Wolfram and Hart, so it was decided that their word was forfeit. We decided that and they couldn't be trusted…" Giles paused and continued somewhat remorseful, "But, now we know…"

Spike started to come at him again before he could finish. "You sack of…!"

The slayers held him back. Some of the girls looked puzzled as to why they were being called off from just staking the vampire.

Faith was taken aback, affronted by Spike's revelation.

She looked to Giles, her voice was a near whisper, "Angel… asked for our help to save Fred and you ignored him?"

Giles could hear the pain and disappointment in her voice and he could see that he had dropped significantly in her eyes.

"I….I'm sorry Faith. We made…I mean…"

He paused, "I made a mistake."

A blue figure blurred out of the corner of Faith's field of vision. No one had noticed its approach.

So much for that slayer hearing.

The leather bound creature grabbed Giles by the neck swatting away his crossbow as he attempted to shoot her.

She held him in the air effortlessly.

"You will release my pet." Illyria ordered the slayers who were still holding on to Spike.

All the slayers stood stunned by the turn of events.

Spike simply grinned viciously at Giles' now precarious position. He was now at the mercy of the thing he failed to help prevent.

Illyria turned her icy glare to the man struggling within her grasp.

"You have displeased the half-breed. What have you done to merit his ire?"

Giles could not respond to the question, as she was crushing his wind pipe.

Illyria did not seem to take any notice of this fact. She simply tilted her head in her eerie reptilian fashion and her gaze landed back on Spike.

"Shall I kill this man for you?"

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_reviews make me happy. :)_


	7. Memories Part 2

**Disclaimer: Don't sue me, this isn't for profit.**

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_Avarice, envy, pride,  
Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all  
On Fire.  
-Dante Alighieri_

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Faith was called as a Slayer.

For the first time since she had been taken from her mother, at least from what Sirius had seen, she looked truly happy. And she loved her watcher that much was clear. She looked up to Lillian and Lillian treated Faith like her own daughter. It seemed not everyone affiliated with the Watcher's Council was as heartless and callous as the men that had taken her.

Faith and Lillian were currently on the trail of a large vampire nest run by a very old, very dangerous vampire.

"Now Faith, Kakistos is not going to be like any other vampire you have faced before and we need to stay on guard."

Faith twirled a stake in her hand casually as she skipped over a fallen log.

"Yeah. Got it. Dangerous."

"Faith," her watcher let out an exasperated sigh. "Kakistos has gotten so old that his hands and feet are cloven. Now, he didn't get to be that old by being careless. He is experienced and powerful. So please, promise me you'll be careful."

Lillian looked genuinely concerned and it was making Faith uncomfortable. She obviously was not used to others caring about her well being.

"Look, I'll be careful Lils'. I'll be as careful as…" she tapped her stake on her chin thoughtfully.

"Umm…someone careful." She made a quick jabbing motion with her stake, "Then I'll stake that old vamp through next week!"

Her watcher assented, "Alright Faith. I just don't want to see you hurt."

Faith avoided her eyes, "I won't be. Promise."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

The voice caused the two women to start. A snappy dressed black man stepped in front of them, followed in tow by a posse of about twenty vampires.

"Hello ladies sorry to interrupt. But, my name is Mr. Trick and I come on behalf of Kakistos."

The man gave them a cocky smirk and eyed Faith appreciatively.

"You must be the Slayer." He leered at Lillian, "And her Watcher. The Master has been expecting you."

Faith snorted.

"Hear that Lils, 'The Master' is 'expecting' me." She shook her head. "You flunkies gotta get some new lines."

The man sneered as a few of the vampires bum rushed her.

"For Kakistos we live! For Kakistos you'll die!" One of the vampires took a swing at Faith and she expertly dodged the attempt.

"There you go! That at least has some character!"

Sirius was starting to get quite fond of this girl. Well, he enjoyed her quips anyway. She was plucky, it reminded Sirius of himself.

Faith swept the vampire's legs out from under him and before he even hit the ground her stake struck home and he fell to ash.

The others seemed to be a little less foolhardy, holding back. They began to encircle Lillian and Faith growling and shouting threats.

Three vampires came at Faith simultaneously. She blocked the first ones fist, while striking a blow to another's nose. She was not so lucky with the third. The vamp kicked her right to her stomach with all of his strength. Faith was knocked backward onto the ground with a thud and her stake went flying.

Faith struggled back onto her feet fumbling for a new stake from her jacket.

"Don't move Slayer!"

Faith's vision cleared to find that Mr. Trick had planted himself behind her now weaponless watcher and he had a large knife pressed up against her throat.

"Drop your weapon. Now!"

Lillian struggled in his grasp, "Faith, he'll kill me no matter what you do. Don't…"

"Shut up," Trick pressed the knife harder against her skin. Sirius could see the blood start to trickle down her throat.

"Don't hurt her!" Faith shrieked, dropping her stake in a panic.

Trick smirked "Good girl."

He knocked Lillian over the head and she crumbled to the ground.

"Just sort of stupid."

Sirius watched on as Faith was knocked out as well. Cordelia looked down at the two unconscious forms with a sad expression, but said nothing.

"Wakey, Wakey. Eggs 'N Bakey!"

Mr. Trick's voice caused Faith to groan and her eyes fluttered open. She was on a platform in the middle of a reservoir of water.

On the other side of the water sat the master vampire Kakistos, with Mr. Trick at his side. He was tapping his cloven hoofed hand on the arm rest of his chair watching her with a sinister glare.

"So you thought you could just waltz in here and kill me and my men? This is my town slayer. Did you think I wouldn't know that you and your little watcher were up to?"

Faith stood defiantly, "Yeah well, I never gave vampires much credit in the brains department."

Kakistos stood menacingly and bellowed, "And you will pay dearly for that mistake!"

He calmed down and a feral grin spread across his ugly face. He gestured to something moving in the water.

"I started collecting these little beauties a few years back. They are so magnificently brutal; an animal after my own heart."

Sirius could see a massive alligator descending on Faith's platform.

"Ariston here is my favorite. I just spoil him rotten. That's why he's grown so fond of human flesh you see; I am always feeding him our scraps." Kakistos chuckled, "I'm sure he's just dieing to get a taste of you, slayer."

The beast circled the platform and began to snap his jaws at her.

"Balls." Faith cursed.

The alligator made it onto the platform and lumbered toward Faith. She flipped over top of him landing on the other side of the platform. Faith then leapt on top of its back trying to keep the thing under control.

It was a failed attempt however, as the gator then began to barrel roll throwing both itself and Faith off the platform and into the water.

Sirius couldn't see what was happening beneath the water and strained to see if Faith was okay.

Then, Faith and the beast broke through the surface. The gator continued to roll and she was punching the thing upside the head. It tried to bite at her and Faith took the opportunity to grab hold of its bottom and top jaws.

She let out a loud grunt, pulling its jaws apart with all her might. The alligator's jaws let out a deafening crack and his bottom jaw was ripped clean off.

Faith released the now dieing animal which floated away listlessly as blood filled the surrounding waters.

She climbed out of the pool drenched and tired only to come face to face with some of Kakistos' lackeys.

One had a baseball bat which he swung at her head. She dropped down to avoid it and slammed into the vampire pushing him against the wall. He dropped the bat on impact and Faith grabbed it before he could retrieve it.

She broke it over his head and took the broken bat shoving it in his heart. She wrung out her hair out and pulled off her now ruined leather jacket.

Another cadre of vampires ran at her.

Kakistos watched the proceedings in anger. "You will pay for killing my pet, Slayer!"

"Will I?" She punched at large vampire that came at her and kicked another behind her. The large vampire smashed his grubby fist across her face. The other vampires grabbed her from behind and held her in place. She struggled desperately in their grasp.

"Yes." Kakistos smirked, "You will".

Mr. Trick could be seen dragging a battered and tied figure into view.

It was Lillian.

She had blood all over her. She had been noticeably bitten several times, but not enough to kill her. Her clothes were torn and her face was barely recognizable.

Sirius wished he could jump in that instant and curse those damned vampires.

"Lils?"

Faith wilted in the grasp her capturers as she saw her watcher.

The master vampire approached Faith baring his teeth.

"You killed my favorite pet! That can't go unpunished! It requires more than simply killing you." He propped his hoof under her chin, "But, believe me, we will get to that soon enough."

"First, I want to cause you a different kind of pain! You know I do so love seeing human grief! I think killing your watcher will do nicely."

Faith's eyes bulged at the threat and she struggled with a newfound fervor.

Kakistos laughed triumphantly, "Ah yes! It would seem I've found exactly what would cause you the most pain."

Lillian fought to speak, "Faith, I…," then Kakistos took her from Trick and tossing her in front of Faith.

Faith was trying to stop from crying, but was failing miserably.

"Leave her alone you bastard!"

Lillian's eyes looked to Faith pleading, "Run Faith! I'm already…"

Kakistos pulled Lillian to her feet.

"Make her watch." He ordered the vampires holding Faith and they grasped her head roughly to keep her from looking away.

Faith's tears flowed freely and she continued to struggle.

Kakistos grabbed Lillian on both shoulders and pulled her up. He sank his teeth into her already battered neck.

He stopped draining her, tearing her flesh with his jaws causing Lillian let out a shrill scream.

Sirius looked away before he could see the extent of that monster's torture, but he could hear Faith's sobs, which was followed by the sickening sound of tearing bone and sinew.

Sirius shuddered, "Merlin."

Faith let out a searing scream of agony.

Sirius could see tears welling up in Cordelia's eyes, but she didn't look away. He forced himself to look back to see Lillian's remains standing at Faith's feet.

She was shaking and staring blankly at the body.

The vampires pushed her down into the bloody mass that had been her watcher and laughed fervently.

Kakistos knelt across from Faith and her bloodshot eyes found his gleeful ones.

"Your turn." He said with a malicious grin.

Sirius couldn't see her face as it was now shielded by her hair, but he could see her hand clasp around something hidden in her boot.

"No." She spoke flatly and almost devoid of emotion, "It's yours."

Faith let out an inhuman roar and unsheathed her concealed knife. She slashed her knife at Kakistos; who had wrongly assumed that she was both unarmed and in no condition to fight.

The knife struck Kakistos on the right side of his face and went up and through his eye. He screamed in shock and fell backward.

"Kill her!" He howled.

Faith was once again surrounded by vampires. She did not have a weapon that could take them all on and she was running out of options.

She flung her small dagger with pinpoint accuracy into the head of the large vampire that had struck her previously. He bellowed loudly and tried to pull it out, but it was lodged firmly in his skull.

She took the opportunity his panic provided and pushed by him and out of the clutches of Kakistos and his minions.

Then, Faith did exactly as her watcher instructed.

She ran.

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"Alright, Leery…why don't you be a nice little Old One and set Giles down? I'm pissed at him too, but I'd still like to see him breathing." Faith attempted to reason with Illyria.

"You presume to talk down to me?" Illyria's eyes seemed to grow icier, "It offends me that you believe yourself relevant. You and your ilk's strength are a mere pinprick in comparison to the power I once commanded!"

Illyria spat, "You are a primitive with the essence of a demon, but a primitive all the same."

Faith bristled, "I'll show you primitive! I'll shove my primitive stake up your...!"

"Oh bloody hell Slayer! You're not going to save the librarian if you get bent out of shape because blue bird insulted you. She insults everyone, its nothing personal."

"I am afraid the vampire is incorrect. It is…personal," Illyria twitched at the word, "the shell remembers you…and that you tortured Wesley before Winfred Burkle came to meet him. This angers me. It also angers me that it should. He is dead and he should not matter, but he does."

The reminder of her indiscretion against Wesley and his death pained Faith. She could never seem to escape her mistakes, no matter how much she wished too.

Spike looked to the mini-slayers still holding him, "Look, just let me go and Blue will release him."

Giles was beginning to lose consciousness, and his lips were turning as blue as Illyria's.

"Do it.", Faith ordered the girls and they quickly obeyed.

The girls were all a little scared of her and pretty much expected her to go off at any moment. They'd all been spoon fed the stories of Faith the Psycho-Slayer after all.

Illyria dropped Giles and he collapsed gasping for air. The woman from the Coven, Cimerron, went to his aid.

"Where is the other vampire? Where is Angel?" Illyria looked to Spike.

"Dead." Spike said curtly.

The other slayers' eye drifted to Faith at that bit of information, but she ignored their sympathetic glances.

"That is…unfortunate. You and I are all that remain?"

Spike nodded grimly.

Giles watched from the ground.

He'd ignored Angel when he called for help and simply assumed he was evil. He'd been petty and he knew that now. Giles had never gotten over what Angelus had done to him.

He'd murdered Jenny Calendar for god's sake! And how could anyone expect him too forgive that? Jenny had been the love of his life…

Intellectually, he knew Angel wasn't Angelus, but that didn't stop the animosity he felt in his heart.

And it had cost a girl her life. He didn't know if Willow would have been able to reverse the Illyria infection, but he'd never given it a chance.

Cimerron placed her hands gently over his bruising neck and uttered a healing incantation and he felt the swelling dissipate.

"Thank you."

She smiled softly, "You are most welcome Rupert. And do not fret. You are not perfect, but who is? You are a good man. Hubris befalls almost everyone from time to time, blinding us from the truth."

Giles nodded solemnly, but her words did not really make him feel better. If he had not been so stubborn about Angel, current circumstances might be different. Slayers could have been sent to aide him and maybe there would be more survivors than Spike and this Illyria creature.

He turned his attention back to the Old One.

Why had it helped Angel and his people? That did not make sense. It was curious that it would follow the orders of a being it would considered inferior. But he didn't want to ask Illyria or Spike the reason. He was sure that would only lead to more strangulation.

Best leave it an unanswered question.

Faith addressed them all brusquely, "We should set up shop in the Hyperion. It's only a few blocks away and it's got enough rooms for all of us. It's a good base of operations until we get the situation here under control."

She gave Giles a look that indicated she would have a word, or several, to say to him later about what he'd done.

Splendid.

It wasn't every day you got scolded on your morals by a convicted murderer.

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Faith finally stopped running from Kakistos once she found herself in small muggle town called Sunnydale.

There, she found the other slayer. A blonde girl, by the name of Buffy Summers.

"I thought the Slayer legend stated that there could only be one slayer at a time." Sirius was intrigued.

Faith continued her conversation with Buffy's friends.

"God, I could eat a horse! Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?"

Sirius snickered.

Faith stuffed a piece of muffin into her mouth and the group all turned to look at Buffy with curious expressions.

The blonde looked uncomfortable, "Well, sometimes I crave a non-fat yogurt afterwards."

"I get it."

Sirius turned his attention to the girl who had spoken. He hadn't noticed it before but it was a younger Cordelia.

"Not the horny thing. Yuck! But, the two Slayer thing. There was one, and then Buffy died for like two minutes, so then Kendra was called, and then when she died, Faith was called."

"Ah," now Sirius got it. "So, this Buffy died temporarily causing a fluke in the Slayer line."

The elder Cordelia nodded, "Can't put anything past you."

But, it seemed Faith hadn't escaped Kakistos after all. He had tracked Faith down to Sunnydale and before she could skip town he'd found her.

Faith had been forced to confront him. With the help of the other slayer she'd finally killed Kakistos and avenged her watcher.

That wasn't the end of her troubles. Not by a long shot.

She stayed in Sunnydale with the other slayer. Faith clearly envied the other girl. She had everything that Faith herself never had.

Mainly, Buffy Summers had friends and family. Buffy's mother was everything that her fake mother was not.

Sirius could relate somewhat. While he'd always had an abundance of friends at Hogwarts, most of his family left a little to be desired. He'd always been a little jealous of James in that respect. James' parents were the most loving mother and father anyone could hope for.

There appeared to be and ever growing divide between the two girls. But, this rift between them was less about their differences, and more about their similarities.

As Slayers, they were like two alpha dogs striving for dominance.

They were always in competition; one was always trying to be better than the other. Buffy always seemed to come out on top.

They got along most of the time, but the rivalry between them was always apparent.

They were fighting a few vampires on the way to a packing warehouse where a demon named Balthazar was said to be setting up shop.

"This is where it all changes for her." Cordelia looked sad as they followed Faith and Buffy as they approached the warehouse.

They continued down the alleyway in a jog. An arm grasped Buffy's and she reacted quickly throwing the figure against a dumpster. Faith pulled out a stake reacting on instinct.

"Faith! No!"

She plunged the stake into the heart of the figure before she realized the figure was a human.

Faith dropped the stake and backed away stunned. The man stared at his wound in shock and blood was everywhere.

"Don't move!" Buffy tried to help the man but the wound was simply too severe.

Faith watched on, paralyzed. "I didn't… I didn't know."

"We need to call 911, now!"

Buffy continued try and assist the man, but he began shaking and he fell limp, eyes unseeing.

Faith dragged the protesting blonde out of the alleyway.

Sirius watched as Faith sat in her hotel bathroom silently scrubbing her bloodied shirt. Her tears had dried, but the pain in her eyes still lingered.

Nothing in this girl's life seemed to go her way; everything she experienced only led to more pain.

He wished he could make it stop.

Sirius never thought he would wish such a thing for the offspring of Bellatrix Lestrange. If someone had told him so, he would have laughed in their face and told them he would sooner tongue kiss Severus Snape.

Sirius gagged at the thought. Well, perhaps not. He would sooner give Kreacher a bear hug. Yes, that was more appropriate.

Buffy had come to see Faith in her hotel, after the incident, "Faith, we need to talk about what we're gonna do."

"There's nothing to talk about. I was doing my job."

"Being a Slayer is not the same as being a killer."

Faith ignored her.

"Faith, please don't shut me out here. Look, sooner or later, we're both gonna have to deal."

"Wrong." Faith spat.

"We can help each other." Buffy pleaded.

"I don't need it." Faith placed her wet shirt on an open dresser drawer to dry.

"Yeah? Who's wrong now? Faith, you can shut off all the emotions that you want. But eventually, they're gonna find a body."

"Okay, this is the last time we're gonna have this conversation, and we're not even having it now, you understand me? There is no body. I took it, weighted it, and dumped it. The body doesn't exist." Faith turned away from her.

Buffy looked astonished, "Getting rid of the evidence doesn't make the problem go away."

"It does for me."

Sirius could tell she wasn't sincere in that declaration.

"Faith, you don't get it. You killed a man."

"No, you don't get it." Faith gave a defiant smile, "I don't care!"

Buffy's boyfriend; a souled vampire named Angel, tried to help her. And he might have succeeded if not for the intervention of Faith's new watcher.

Her watcher, a bloke by the name of Wesley Wyndam-Price, discovered what she'd done and informed the Watcher's Council. Their attempt to capture her and do Merlin knows what to her was a dismal failure. It only succeeded in making her worse.

Faith fell fast and she fell hard. She joined the enemy and killed again, but this time it wasn't an accident. Sirius could see she was becoming more and more like her mother with every passing moment.

The transition scared Sirius. It was as if Faith saw no way out; the only option left was the darkness. For all her physical strength, she was so psychologically damaged from her past that she lacked the mental fortitude to come back from that accidental murder in the alley.

What she had become horrified him, but he'd admit her actions were not a travesty entirely of her own making.

But, that didn't make it right. Sirius wanted to knock some sense into her.

Faith tried to kill Angel. Buffy repaid her by stabbing her with her own knife, landing Faith in a coma.

Sirius was aghast at the muggle hospital Faith was placed in. If she had been in St. Mungo's she would have been fine in no time at all. The doctors here acted as though she would never wake up.

The man she'd been working for, this Mayor Wilkins, seemed genuinely upset at her condition.

That was probably a major factor in Faith's descent Sirius imagined. This man, however evil he was, gave her something she'd been lacking after Lillian's death and she'd never really had a father.

She woke up soon enough and after a confrontation with Buffy, she found Angel again in another town.

Faith tried to kill him again and even tortured her former watcher.

The torture of Wesley made Sirius' stomach turn. She was edging ever closer to Bellatrix and it pained him.

She was better than this.

In the end though, Faith continued like this because she was seeking someone to deal her punishment. She wanted to someone so angry that they would be left no other choice.

She wanted someone to kill her.

Angel knew as much.

"I'm not gonna make it easy for you."

Faith soaked from the rain punching him half-heartedly, "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad!"

Faith cried and shook Angel pleading, "Please. Angel, please, just do it!"

"Just do it. Just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me."

Angel wrapped his arms around her in a hug and they slumped to the ground. Faith continued to sob and Angel tried to soothe her.

That was how Sirius differentiated Faith/Eris from her mother.

She cared, now matter how much she'd deny it. Faith cared. She felt remorse for what she'd done and the overwhelming pain that came from the realization that she couldn't take it back.

Bellatrix seemed to have no qualms about her actions.

But then, Sirius didn't really know the inter-workings of Bella's mind and he certainly didn't care to. Maybe she did care and she was just a really good actress.

Sirius doubted it. Bellatrix seemed to thrive on torture and murder.

The torture and murders Faith committed had the opposite effect. They seemed to eat at her like an infection. She may have pretended that she enjoyed it, but he could tell she was dieing inside because of it.

That didn't forgive what she'd done. But, it made a substantial difference.

"That it does." Cordelia looked to Sirius clearly hearing his thoughts.

Faith had turned herself in to the authorities and went to prison willingly.

She broke out later with the help of Wesley Wyndam-Price, of all people. He had needed her help defeat a de-souled Angel.

Apparently breaking out of prison was a family trait.

After she had helped get Angel back, Faith went back to Sunnydale and helped Buffy and her friends. There was still animosity there, but it appeared to grow toward a mutual respect.

The entity that they were able to defeat astounded him.

No wonder Voldemort looked like a minor pest to the Watcher's Council.

Also, that show of power on the part of the wicca was down right scary. She activated every potential slayer alive. That was not someone Sirius wanted on his bad side.

"I don't understand Cordelia. Why does Faith need my help? If anyone could help her it would be this Angel, he seemed pretty successful with helping her before…"

Cordelia looked pained, "He's dead."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "And what exactly am I?"

"You are mostly dead, there's a difference." She seemed defeated, "Also, there's this little issue that Angel signed a contract with a demon law firm before he died. Wolfram and Hart's contracts are legally binding even past the point of death."

Cordelia shook her head frustrated, "Not even the Powers can counteract them. But, believe me they are sure as hell trying. I'm making sure of that. I won't allow Angel to be tormented by those jerks."

"Why me, then?"

"This isn't just about Faith, you know. This is about you too. You and Faith need each other. You both have been lonely for a very long time."

Sirius looked skeptical, "I'm not…"

Cordelia raised her hand to stop him, "You can't lie to me Padfoot. I know that you never had a good relationship with your family growing up and that's a big understatement. Then, your best friend was murdered and you spent 12 years in Azkaban. I think that would make anyone a bit lonely… among other things."

"What?" Sirius glowered, "Are you saying I'm crazy?"

"Oh, don't get your English knickers in a twist! All I'm saying is you two need each other and your both too damn stubborn to admit it."

"I've got Harry, don't I? Remus too. You make it sound like I've been living in a box on the side of the street!"

Cordelia wanted to comment on the somewhat unhealthy relationship between him and his godson but refrained, "Like I said. Stubborn."

"Look, I think it would be good for Faith and yourself if you just help her. Okay? Not only that, the wizarding world is going to need her. And you too, when the time comes. That is something you want, isn't it? To feel needed?"

Sirius conceded, "Alright fine, I will admit that I am curious to meet her and I am itching to get back in the fight against Voldemort... Although from what I've seen…I'm a bit weary on how well she'll receive my offer of help."

Cordelia nodded, "Yeah, I seem to remember receiving an elbow to the face the last time I offered. So, I can understand the apprehension there." She continued, "But, I'll tell you this much. She's may put up a fight, but Faith has grown since her Dark Slayer days. So, that fight will be more verbal than physical."

Cordelia murmured under her breath, "Most likely."

"So, when do I leave for this auspicious undertaking?"

She smiled, "Getting to be that time."

Cordelia put her hands on his shoulders, "After this, you won't be seeing me. So, I want to wish you good luck."

Sirius smiled wanly, "I'm going to need it."

"Got that right, dog-boy." Cordelia teased.

Then, Sirius felt a pull downward and his body felt heavy.

"You can tell Faith I sent you if you like. But, I'm not sure how well that little revelation would be received. She might think I sent you as punishment."

She winked, "And maybe I did. You are sort of a pain."

Sirius let out a barking laugh.

Cordelia poked him lightheartedly, "Now, you take care of her. And yourself too, I'd hate to see you back here."

"I'll do my best." He nodded and felt the pull more strongly.

Sirius Black was off to find his long lost cousin.

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_Now on to the good stuff! ;) _


	8. Hope the Future Brings, Or Not

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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_The future has a way of arriving unannounced.  
-George Will_

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Faith couldn't sleep. Whenever she would close her eyes she would see Angel's final moments. Sometimes it would switch to Gunn's or even her own imaginings of Wesley's demise. The pain of it was unbearable. She was physically and emotionally drained and there wasn't a damn thing she could do in order to fix it.

Faith got up and dragged herself out of the room she'd crashed in.

She came down to the Hyperion foyer hoping to find someone else up. Most everyone was either asleep or on patrol. She'd decided to postpone her "discussion" with Giles till after everyone had gotten some rest. Mainly so she would avoid doing something she would regret later.

That plan hadn't worked out so well for her though, as she couldn't seem to get any rest.

She found Spike sitting behind the hotel reception desk, his boots resting on the counter. He waved the liquor bottle in his hand, "Care to join me?"

Faith lifted herself up onto the desk.

"God, yes."

She grabbed the offered Jack Daniels and took a large mouthful before handing it back to him.

The two were quiet for a short time, until Spike spoke,

"You know it's funny…" He set down the bottle, "I always hated Peaches. We never could stand each other, not even when we were evil. But now that he's finally gone… I don't know I feel sort of… empty. Like I'm missing something."

Faith's tired eyes looked to him, "Why are you telling me this?"

Spike gestured around the lobby, "Well you're the only one here aren't ya? Who the bloody hell else am I going to tell, Illyria?" He pointed to the aforementioned God-King who was currently scrutinizing one of the fake potted plants.

"It…It might also be that I'm drunk. That's probably a factor."

"I miss him." Faith said softly and she looked absently to the ceiling, "I'm just so sick of everyone I care about winding up dead."

Spike looked sympathetic, "I tell yah, life is so much simpler when you're evil. Then you don't have to care about anyone but yourself." Spike sighed taking another drink.

"Seconded."

"Will you cease your intercourse? I find it irritating." Illyria glared from the corner.

"Intercourse?" Faith gave Spike a come-hither look, "I wish."

Spike smiled, "I thought we'd already been over this Boo-Berry. That word has a certain connotation that aint got nothing to do with talking…"

"I am aware that it can also be in reference to human copulation."

"And vampire." Spike gave her a wink.

Illyria turned back to the fake plant.

"I am curious...why do humans make poor replications of the green, when the real variety is so readily available?"

Faith slid off the counter, "Cause it's easier. You don't have to water plastic."

"Ease." she tested the word with distaste. "Your kind always strives for this 'ease'." She stared at Faith with a curious expression, "Why?"

"Because we're lazy? I don't know." Faith stretched her shoulders, "We don't like to try when we don't have to."

"How did humans come to rule this world? They are so pitifully feeble…to be indolent as well and still hold sway, that seems…" Illyria looked thoughtful, "improbable."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Faith shrugged, "But, like I said. We don't like to try when we don't have to. It's when we have to that we can surprise you." Then she muttered under her breath, "Probably surprise ourselves too."

Spike raised an eyebrow catching Faith's whispered addition.

Illyria was about to reply, but stopped as if something caught her eye.

"You alright there, Leery?" Spike asked.

A bright flash encased the entire lobby in a white light.

Faith and Spike quickly dropped into fighting stances while Illyria simply looked on inquisitively.

The light was gone, leaving behind a groaning man on the floor at Faith's feet.

Illyria cocked her head.

"Fascinating."

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Sirius felt terrible. His body felt like he'd been stepped on by Norwegian Ridgeback.

Cordelia failed to mention that coming back to life would be this painful. Maybe it was a residual from the curse Bellatrix had hit him with before falling through the veil. Whatever it was, it was anything but pleasant.

He felt a pressure on his side. Was someone poking him?

Sirius forced open his eyelids and jerked slightly when he saw the person standing over him. At first he thought it was Bellatrix as his brain was still a jumble.

It was Eris.

"Why is he holding a tiny stick?"

He saw her frown at someone he couldn't see.

The person she'd addressed sniggered, "That's no stick, Slayer. That's definitely a wand. Had a few of those things pointed at me back in my soulless days."

"You're kidding. People actually use wands? Why didn't I ever see Willow use one?"

The man attached to the voice came up beside Faith.

Good lord. Did that man actually think that bad die job looked good?

"Red is a wicca; that's earth magic. Wand wizards and witches are different. I think their magic comes more directly from the user than the earth. Least that's what I could decipher from Dru's ramblings after she'd drained one of 'em."

Faith nodded and knelt closer to Sirius reaching to take his wand. He jerked his hand away from her.

"Don't", was all he could articulate.

Her brow furrowed, "Give me one reason I shouldn't? You appear out of thin air and I ain't got no ideas who you are. What? You think letting some unknown dude just keep his potential weapon sounds reasonable? Sounds more like a good way to get dead."

"I'm…not evil."

She snorted. "Oh, well. When you put it that way…"

Faith snatched the wand out of his hand before he'd even registered she had been going for it.

Sirius let out a growl making Faith smirk.

"You might get it back later, if you behave. Okay Mr. Wizard?"

He nodded dejectedly.

"Good. Now let's get you up." She pulled him up gently and placed him on a circular couch at the center of the room.

Sirius was starting to feel a bit better. The overwhelming desire to lose his lunch all over the floor had dissipated dramatically.

Faith pulled a chair up in front of him. She straddled it backward and set her chin on top of the back rest, giving him a speculative glance.

"So... what brings you to Los Angeles? The weather is quite fab this time of year, too bad about the demon horde." Faith asked conversationally while trying to size him up.

"I was sent here." Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose trying to quell his pounding headache.

"Oh. That so? By who?"

"By the Powers the Be." He looked her in the eyes, "and woman named Cordelia."

Faith let out a husky laugh, "Cordy? Why would Queen C send you? And who are you, by the way?"

"She sent to me to help you, Faith." Her eyes narrowed but he didn't notice, "My name is Sirius Black."

He probably shouldn't have said his name. He wasn't sure if his name was still being circulated to the muggles in the Ministry's attempts to capture him…but he hadn't really been thinking about it.

"She sent you to help me?"

Sirius nodded, "I have too tell you who you are. I have to bring you somewhere."

"Look mister, I hate to break it to you, but I already know who I am. And frankly, I'm going to need some proof that you are telling the truth before I would even consider going anywhere with you. Cause you know what English? I don't trust you." She started to spin a knife menacingly in her hand, "I've had the tendency of trusting the wrong sorts of people in the past and let's say it's caused me to be slightly wary in my old age."

"I'm your cousin."

Faith stopped playing with her knife and looked at him incredulously.

"Sure you are."

The blond man and another person he hadn't noticed before; a strange blue woman in a form-fitting outfit came up beside her.

"He's not lying poppet. Smells like you…just enough to be related. He also smells like…". He looked confused, "Dog?"

He shook his head, "Not sure what that's about."

Now Sirius recognized him. That was that vampire she'd fought alongside against the First. The one that Sirius was pretty sure got incinerated. He looked pretty spry for a previously charred corpse.

"I'm an animagus. I can change myself into a dog."

Spike nodded, "That would do it."

"All you primitives usually look the same, but I do admit he does bare a striking number of physical resemblances to you." The blue girl stepped toward him, "His features are also not displeasing."

"You saying you fancy me sweetheart? I'm flattered. You're not so bad yourself." He winked at her.

"Yeah. He's defiantly related to you." Spike added humorously,

Faith smiled lightly, "I think Illyria may have also just inadvertently admitted she thought I was hot. Thanks Blue."

Illyria ignored her and continued to watch Sirius with a blank expression.

"Well you've got my attention, cuz." Faith sat up in her seat. "What's the what?"

"What?" Sirius frowned.

Spike took a seat next to him, "What Faith means to say is… What is it that you need to tell her and where exactly do you need to take her?"

Sirius was slightly uncomfortable having a vampire so close to his person without his wand, but he tried to push that feeling aside. He didn't think it was working however, as the vampire had a smirk plastered all over his face. Sirius turned back to Faith.

"It is perhaps something you might want me to tell you in private…"

Faith sighed, "Just because you're related to me doesn't mean I'd trust you to be alone in a room with me. In fact, it's probably all the more reason not to." She gave him a threatening glare. "Not that you could do anything to me anyway. Whatever you need to tell me, they can hear it too."

Sirius sighed. He wasn't sure how to tell to break it to the girl. Perhaps the direct approach was best.

"Alright. The woman who raised you… She's not your real mother."

Faith's eyes widened and she grinned.

"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day."

"It's really not." Sirius gave her a sympathetic look.

"How so? I'd take any mother over that drug addicted bitch." Faith said bluntly.

"Your real mom and dad, they've killed people. They are still killing people." Sirius said just as bluntly back to her.

Faith's grin melted into a grimace. The glint of joy in her eyes that his first revelation had created disappeared, as if it had never been.

He mentally slapped himself. That had been a little harsh; perhaps he should have broken it to her a little more gently.

Faith's pained expression turned to anger. Anger which she directed at him.

"So what!? Cordelia brought you here to rub it in my face?" She huffed.

"No! Of course not!" Sirius barked in defense,"I had to tell you somehow. I…"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Look I'm sorry, alright? But, your mother and I, there's a lot of bad blood there. Also, my mouth tends to get ahead of my brain sometimes and I say things I shouldn't."

"I'll say. You broke that to her with the tenderness of a hurricane." Spike scoffed.

Faith calmed down slightly but still looked ready to boil over, "So who are my parents? Are they wizards like you, Sirius Black?"

"They are nothing like me." Sirius's eyes darkened, "But, yes… they are wizards. They are just…they're evil."

The blue woman scoffed but said nothing.

"What are their names? These 'evil' parents of mine?" Faith asked bitterly.

He wasn't really sure if she was angry at him, or just angry in general.

"Their names are Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange."

Spike sputtered, "You're kidding?"

Sirius whipped his head to look at him with a biting stare, "You know them vampire?"

Spike grinned, "I wondered if you knew. You seemed awful uncomfortable with me being so close to your neck." He knelt closer to emphasize the point and smiled devilishly, "Anyway, yeah I know Bellatrix. Met her anyway."

"You know my real mother? That is if this guy is telling the truth…"

Spike nodded, "Me and Drusilla were visiting the mother country back in the mid-eighties. Bellatrix and some other wizards approached us to join their little war. As if we cared about such petty human squabbles, wizard or no. I ain't gonna be anybody's bloody foot soldier."

"War?" Illyria's eyes sparkled as she said the word.

Sirius wasn't sure what to make of Faith's 'friends'; they were a little too dark. And they made him extremely uncomfortable. Especially the way Illyria stared at him, and her seeming love of violence.

"Yes, Voldemort's war. He was a dark wizard. He wanted to pretty much kill all non-pureblood witches and wizards, muggles too. He resurfaced last year and is starting his crusade all over again."

"Muggles? Is that some British punk rock band or something? Cause I don't know what that is." Faith looked to Spike puzzled.

"No it's not. I seem to remember the wizards using it to refer to regular people, non-magical folk." Spike supplied.

"That's correct."

Spike scrutinized Sirius for a second.

"I thought you wandies didn't say his name by the way, like he was going to show up if you mentioned him. I seemed to remember a lot of 'You Know Who's' and 'Dark Lords' and some piffle. You seemed pretty comfortable just blurting it out."

"It's just a name, to fear it is absurd."

"So, my parents follow this Moldy guy and kill people for some crap about blood purity?"

"Yes." Sirius responded.

"Bellatrix was off her rocker when I met her. Gave Dru a run for her money and it frankly sort of turned me on." Spike leered, "Too bad she treated us like inferiors. That royally pissed me off." He crossed his arms.

Illyria raised an eyebrow, "Yet, you did not kill her for such insolence?"

"I was planning on it! I wanted to rip that pretentious grin off her face literally. Then Dru stopped me. I think Drusilla fancied the crazy bird. Like a kindred spirit or something."

Faith was deep in thought and then spoke.

"If you are telling truth about this…why the hell was I raised by someone else? Shouldn't I be off with them becoming you know, _Nazi-Wizard: The Next Generation_?"

"Cordelia showed me what happened. The Watcher's Council stole you from the Lestrange's house. They didn't know they were Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort. They just knew they were wizards. I guess they didn't trust any of us, so they took you when you were little, erased your memories and placed you with another family."

Faith's eyes narrowed significantly and she snarled, "What!?"

She got up from her chair and began to pace.

"I swear to god, if the old Watcher's Council wasn't already dead I would track them down and kill them myself!"

"You don't mean that." Sirius tried to calm her down.

"Like hell I don't! They tried to have me killed! Now I find out they took me from my real family and put me with that….that fucking terrible whore! Couldn't they have at least put me with someone who cared!? Was that so goddamn difficult!?"

Faith picked up her chair and flung it across the room as her ever growing fury finally exploded.

It shattered against the doorway causing a few of the slayers entering from outside to duck as the wood splinters sprayed over top of them.

"Jesus, Lehane! What did that chair ever do to you?" One of the girls commented as she dusted the wood shards off herself.

Faith said nothing clenching her fist. She saw Giles come in behind the girls.

"Did you know Giles? Did you!?"

Giles just looked haggard, "Yes Faith, I knew about Illyria and I'm sorry I didn't try and help Fred…"

"Not that dammit!" Faith bellowed, "About the Council and what they did to me! How they took me from my real mother erased my memory and put me with some poor excuse for one instead! Tell me G, did you know or not?"

She approached him threateningly.

Giles just looked stunned, "No Faith. I swear to you. I had no idea! I don't even know why they would do such a thing."

"They did it because Gladiatrix here's parents were wand wizards. At least, according to this guy." He jabbed his thumb back at Sirius who was still sitting on the couch.

"Good lord." Giles took of his glasses and began his ritual cleaning, "This is certainly something I wouldn't have put past Travers and the Council members of old. But, I swear to you Faith, I never knew. If I had, I would have told you."

Faith did not respond only giving Giles a curt nod. She marched silently back to Sirius who was watching her actions intently. She drew his wand out from her back pocket and grabbed his hand forcefully slapping the wand into his open palm.

"You try anything or hurt any of my friends…I will kill you, cousin or no."

"I understand." Sirius replied coolly.

And he did. He would have said much the same thing. Although giving him back his wand seemed a little reckless on her part. Perhaps she was hoping he would do something, just so she would have someone to fight.

Faith spun on her heels and grabbed her jacket that was lying across another chair and snatched the short sword that had been situated beneath it.

"I'm going out."

Both Giles and Sirius started to protest.

"Look. I'm going. End of story. No Epilogue in this piece. Don't try and stop me or I'll do something I'll probably regret later, but sure as hell sounds appealing right now."

Faith pushed past the slayers still standing in the doorway and out the door.

Sirius stood to follow her. Spike's hand stopped him, "You hard of hearing? The girl said to leave her alone. You go after her and you must not be too attached to your limbs."

Illyria cocked her head, "I would gladly relieve you of your appendages now in order to save you the time."

Spike let loose a boisterous laugh, "Wow, Shiva! Was that a joke? I didn't know you had it in you!"

"That which you do not know of me, half-breed, would fill more annals than the entirety of human history."

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Giles watched as Faith stormed out of the building.

This day was just getting better and better.

He approached the group cautiously, taking notice of the man who'd told Faith about her real parents.

"Who is this man?"

Sirius pressed past Spike putting out a hand toward Giles, "Name's Sirius. I'm Faith's cousin."

Giles took the proffered hand with reservation, "Rupert Giles. The Head of the New International Watchers Council." Sirius' hand tightened at the mention of the Watcher's Council.

Rupert's eyes drifted to the wand held in the man's other hand, "So you're a wizard?"

"I am."

Fantastic. As if he didn't have enough problems.

As if Faith didn't have enough problems.

Rupert looked at the man before him. Something was hauntingly familiar about him. He just couldn't seem to pull it from the depths of his mind. He recognized this Sirius from somewhere.

Then in a flash he recalled the notices that had been regularly delivered in the post and the occasional news report on the ruthless killer Sirius Black who had yet to be captured by authorities.

He pulled his hand back roughly.

"You're Sirius Black. You are a wanted fugitive back in the U.K."

A pigtailed slayer quickly brandished a sword in Sirius Black's direction and another girl beside her aimed her crossbow between his eyes.

Sirius frowned.

"Bollocks."

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_Review._


	9. No Rest

**Disclaimer: JK and Joss own the HP and Buffy. Not me.**

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_What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.  
-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

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Faith wanted to kill something. She wanted to beat something into a bloody pulp. She had to release all her pent up energy on someone who deserved it.

It was just her luck that the demons still sticking around weren't coming out to play.

It may have had something to do with it being nearly morning. The sky was somewhat murky, but the sun had started to peek out from behind the clouds.

She had her sword swinging lazily at her side. After she'd received more than a few concerned looks from those people who'd felt confident enough to leave their homes after the events of last night, she decided to conceal the sword beneath her jacket.

Faith had been more than a little riled after learning about what the old Council had done. So, needless to say she had not been thinking about the time of day and the fact that she would be hard pressed to find something to slay.

Faith just walked without any mind of where she was going.

It wasn't fair.

She never really had the chance to recover from one disaster or misfortune before the next one reared its ugly head. It was making her crazy and she was ready to bail.

Maybe she could run off and go somewhere where no one would find her. But she knew that would never work. Someone would come looking for her, and inevitably they would track her down. The Scoobies as well as the new slayers and watchers wouldn't let her just disappear.

She wasn't sure if they would search for her because they were genuinely worried or because they didn't trust her enough not to screw up when left to her own devices.

Faith held out hope that it was because they cared, but the realist in her doubted it.

_**…heck, maybe we won…But the realist in me tends to doubt it…Sooner or later you will wake up, and when you do, you'll find the world has gone and changed on you. **_

And it had. Now, more than ever.

Faith eyes teared up as she remembered Wilkin's final words to her. Now why the hell did she have to go and remember that?

_**By now I bet you're feeling very much alone. But you're never alone. You'll always have me…**_

It hurt whenever she thought of the guy. He was the first man she'd ever really gotten close to, that didn't want anything on the side…well, except to lay waste to his enemies.

But, he had loved her.

_**My dear Edna May, rest her soul, she never had a chance to bring a child into this world. But when I look into your eyes, I see a daughter she would have been proud to call her own. **_

Maybe that's what it was. She didn't deserve to be loved by anybody. That was why when anyone came around who might, they dropped dead.

A desperate cry escaped her lips causing the older woman walking past her to jump back in fright.

She didn't care. Screw that old lady. Screw everyone.

Faith ran blindly and tried to forget.

She thought she had been at her breaking point and her pain couldn't possibly get any worse

Her past was all she really had left. As shitty as it was, at least it had been hers.

And now she didn't even have that anymore. She discovered that her entire life was a lie. She had nothing.

She should have had an entirely different life. The life she had was one the Council had forced on her as a child.

Faith didn't know anything about these real parents of hers, but they were hers….and for the Council to take that from her…

She fell to the ground, overcome.

It was appropriate that the rain chose this moment to fall. The sky seemed to weep along with her.

Faith didn't care if they were evil. They were hers; she should have at least had the chance to known them.

It would have been nice if they were a kind homely couple, who lived in suburbia with a white picket fence and cute little puppy dog.

But, then Faith knew that no nice homely couple would ever produce a screw-up like her.

The fact that her parents were fanatical murderers explained a lot, really. Even before going psycho and killing people, she had always been quick to fly off the handle and always a bit to passionate about slaying…

She'd always noticed growing up that she didn't looked a thing like her mom, but she'd always just blown it off thinking she probably just looked more like her dad, whoever that was.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A voice taunted from behind her.

It was a group of three street thugs who thought she looked like an easy target.

Big mistake.

Looked like she'd found some people to take out her anger on. Lucky guys.

Faith stood calmly and gave off a mock fear, "Oh no. Don't hurt me."

Apparently these fine gentlemen didn't catch the sarcasm.

"Sorry cutie. I'm afraid this will hurt." The other two cackled at the first's words.

"Somehow I doubt it." Faith rolled her eyes. "I bet you guys' dicks must be wicked tiny if you can only get laid by accosting innocent girls in dark alleys."

The three of them glared.

"You Bitch! You'll pay for that!"

The one who'd spoke pulled out a switchblade. Faith saw the knife and laughed.

"See, even your knife is small." she derided him.

The three men were visibly perplexed by her lack of fear and her continued insults. Faith glanced to each of the men's sides. They didn't seem to be carrying any guns.

Thank god.

But, it did sort of take away the challenge. But, getting shot didn't sound too appealing.

The man with the knife came forward trying to appear threatening. But by the way he was handling the knife; she could tell the guy hadn't a clue how to use it.

For the first time she realized just how young they were. They couldn't be more than 18. Dumb kids. What was wrong with them? Picking on girls in the street?

It was time for Mama Faith to teach these boys a little lesson.

He rushed at her trying to push her against the building. But, she sidestepped him and grabbed the arm that was holding the knife. She used his momentum against him flipping him and pinning him to the ground. She held firm on his arm twisting it and he released the knife, which she pocketed.

He let out a high pitched scream.

"Wow. I'm pretty sure thirteen year old girls scream less girly than you…"

The other two looked at the scene disbelieving. They shook themselves out of it and joined the fray.

Faith released the guy she was holding down and punched the shorter kid on her left who went flying. She snatched the other boy's fist in mid-air as he tried to take a swing at her. She looked at him viciously.

His eyes widened in fear.

"Wha…what are you?"

Faith stared at him callously, "Oh me? I'm just a girl."

She flipped her hair with her other hand and grinned, "A girl that's gonna kick the shit outta ya."

She crushed his fist easily in her hand, causing him to cry out in agony. Faith pushed him back and he fell clutching to his wrecked hand. Faith pulled out her short sword from behind her jacket which caused all of their eyes to practically bulge out of their sockets. She wasn't sure, but she thought the one with the broken hand may have pissed himself.

She took the first boy that had attacked her and lifted him against the wall. He looked at her terrified.

"Have you done this before? You sack of shit! Have you!" She slammed him hard against the brick.

"No! I swear! Please! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" He shrieked.

Faith pressed her face close to his and could smell the alcohol wafting off his breath.

"How would you like it if some guy bigger and stronger than you had his way with you!?"

He just started to whimper.

"You do this again; you may wind up having to live out that little hypothetical when you go to prison! You sure look like you would make some big fella very happy."

He nodded frantically, "I won't do it again! Please! Let me go!"

Faith stared blankly for a second considering.

It would be so easy to just kill all three of them.

They deserved it.

What if it had been some other girl? Even if they were three young drunk kids… being drunk may lower your inhibitions…

But did it really change your character?

She would be doing the world and goddamn favor.

Faith dropped the kid realizing what she was thinking of doing.

"Get outta here!" She growled.

He scampered out of the alley leaving his friends in his wake. The other two limped away after him.

Faith watched them leave in silence. She stood numb in that alley for what felt like an eternity.

She let the rain soak her to the bone.

_**You're in no condition to leave here. You walk out now and you'll be running for the rest of your life and my bet is - it'll be a pretty short run. **_

Her sword clattered to the cement.

"It doesn't matter."

_**It does matter. It matters to me.**_

Faith sobbed and found herself back on the ground.

_**Where are you gonna go? Back out in that darkness?  
You thought that you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. Five by Five, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me how did you like it?**_

"I hated it….I hated myself…I still do…"

God, if anyone saw her right now they would think she'd finally lost it.

Maybe she had. She was talking to herself in the middle of an alley.

"Angel…why did you have to die? I need you… please…I can't do this."

_**Yes, you can. **_

"God, it hurts. I hate that it hurts like this."

_**It's supposed to hurt. All that pain, all that suffering you caused is coming back on you. Feel it! Deal with it! Then maybe you've got a shot at being free.**_

It wasn't until that moment that she realized where she was. She'd run to the same alley where…

Apparently even her subconscious hated her.

She was in the alley just below the apartment that she'd tortured Wesley. The alley where Angel had refused to kill her.

Were they really gone?

_**You have to get up now, Faith. You have to fight. I need you to fight.**_

She sobered and stood gradually. The Powers wanted her to go with Sirius, maybe they knew what they were talking about.

But then Faith had never held much stock in the wisdom of the higher ups…

_**Let me tell you something. Nobody knows what you are. Not even you, little Miss Seen-it-all…This is your day to blossom, to show the world what a powerful girl you are. I think of what you've done, what I know you will do. No father could be prouder. **_

"I hope I don't let you down."

She was still seeking her redemption and maybe she could find it if she helped confront this Voldemort guy. And her parents.

Maybe prove that she wasn't evil. Prove that she wasn't the Psycho-Slayer that everyone thought she was.

She needed to do this. It was her real world after all, the one that was taken from her.

It was time to take it back.

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"I was framed."

That was a stupid response.

But, he'd been put on the spot. It was the truth, but it still sounded like something any wanted man would say. He couldn't really bring himself curse young girls, so he let them tie him up. Then they took away his wand.

Again.

Sirius also didn't want to anger Faith anymore than he already had. He was pretty sure that doing anything to these girls would royally piss her off.

He sighed and shifted under his restraints as he sat in the chair.

Spike argued with Giles, "Look this guy ain't evil! Well, actually I…don't really know that, but he seems like a decent enough guy…I suppose."

Giles looked incredulous, "Spike, the last person I expect to be a good judge of character is you."

Spike growled, "Well, I know you're a git! How's that for a judge of character?"

Giles groaned, "Look, as much as I do so love bickering with you Spike, this isn't helping", he turned to a short Japanese girl near the stairs, "Kaminari, can you go see if Cimerron is awake, I need her to come down here for a moment."

The girl nodded and ran up the stairs.

A few minutes later she came downstairs alongside a serene older woman.

"Cimerron. I wanted to ask you another favor." Giles joined her at the steps and he led her over to Sirius.

"Of course." She gave Giles a warm smile.

This woman sure had a calming presence about her.

"This man. I wondered if you could read his aura…I have reason to believe he is a wanted murderer…but he and others," he glared at Spike, "say otherwise."

The woman walked in front of him and gave Sirius a friendly smile. She sort of reminded him of Dumbledore, the way he always seemed to know everything about you before you ever said a word.

"You never said he was a wand wizard Rupert. Perhaps that was a little test? Hmmm…? Wanted to see if I would realize it?"

"Well...uh, actually…I just forgot to mention it." He stammered, "In the commotion it sort of slipped my mind. Do you think that will get in the way of you reading him? The fact that he's a wizard?"

"No, not at all. If I needed to read his mind that would certainly make it difficult. But, with auras…it actually makes it easier, their power tends to amplify them, helps me see their intentions, good or bad, much more clearly. Dark magic and evil seeps into a person's aura…that's hard thing to hide. Not impossible I suppose, but I've never known anyone capable of hiding their auras or altering them completely…not even Willow."

Spike stood behind them, "So, what's the verdict?"

Cimerron knelt down at eye level with Sirius and studied him, "He's no killer…but his aura is complex, muddled…" She placed a hand on Sirius's knee reassuringly, "I think perhaps you should consider trying some mediation young man. You are much too tense and so full of anger…and there's a great deal of pain and loneliness." She looked sad, "Why are you so forlorn?"

Sirius recoiled, "That my own business."

She gave him knowing look and stood, "I am confident you can release him Rupert. He will not harm us."

"Right." Giles gestured for the girls to untie him.

"Here is your stick, monsieur." Sirius took his wand from the thin French girl beside him.

"Thanks."

"Sorry about that Mr. Black. I can't be too careful, you know?" Giles apologized.

"Not a problem." Sirius replied.

"So, I have to ask…what are your intentions with Faith?" Giles asked.

"My intentions? You make it sound like I'm taking her out on a date. While the 'Noble House of Black' may be known for its inbreeding, luckily that is one of many aspects common to my family to which I do not ascribe", Sirius said sardonically.

Giles gaped at him, "Yes...well, thank God for small favors."

Sirius continued, "But, I had hoped she might wish to join me in a trip back to London and to the Wizarding world…I was brought back to life to do so, after all, so I figure I probably should."

Giles nodded, "I see…I don't suppose this little mission has something to do with this 'Dark Lord' I have been hearing about lately?"

Well, apparently this new Head of the Watcher's Council was more observant than the previous ones. That was a relief.

"It is."

"Ah. Well…You would find few better suited to help you than Faith, should she choose to go with you." Giles looked finished with the conversation, but then he turned back to Sirius.

"If something serious happens to her... I would suggest you find yourself a very good hiding place, Mr. Black. Because I will come looking for you." Then Rupert Giles walked off.

Good man.

"You're Faith's cousin?" A voice asked from behind him. He turned to see a blond teen looking at him expectantly.

"I am."

"So Faith is from the land of scones and tea? Huh. Who knew?" The girl stated gleefully.

"I'm Sirius, and you are?"

"Oh right! Sorry, um, I'm Raven. You can call me Rave if you like. Lots of people do. You know… like the parties?"

He didn't.

"It's nice to meet you Raven."

"You too. So, what can you do with that wand? Turn people into frogs? Make people lose all control of their bowels?" She looked excited at the possibilities.

Sirius laughed, "Well, I don't know the spell that would do that last one…but, I can do many things with it, many different spells, charms…"

"Curses?" She interrupted.

"Yes."

"Sweet." She smiled brightly.

"So I take it you are a Slayer like these other girls? Like Faith?" he asked conversationally.

"Sure am! Although…I'm nowhere as good as Faith."

"I'm sure you're just being modest." Sirius gave her a smile.

The girl beamed.

Well, he seemed to have gotten on the good side of at least one slayer around here.

Maybe the one he needed to get to trust him wouldn't be too far behind.

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Faith trudged back into the hotel exhausted. She saw Raven talking to Sirius.

She looked happy.

Too happy.

God. She wasn't crushin' on her cousin was she?

Faith wasn't aware the homeless look was how Raven got her happy on. Well, it was always the ones you least expected that were the real freaky-deaky ones.

This cousin of hers wasn't bad looking, he would probably be quite attractive... he just looked like he needed to take a shower and eat a few more Big Macs or something.

Starvation wasn't hot, regardless of what those fashion mags seemed to think.

Raven ran up and took in Faith's drenched form, "Faith! What happened to you? Is it raining?"

Faith looked at her cynically, "No Rave. I just thought I'd take a dive into the Pacific", She made dog paddling motions, "Wanted to see if I could swim to China. But no dice, the water was too choppy, had to come back."

"Alright! Geez, I get it!" Raven said pouting and crossed her arms, "Who shit in your cereal?"

That caused Faith to unleash a thunderous laugh that made her cry.

"Ha! Thank you, I needed that." She started to wipe away the tears of laughter from her eyes.

The younger girl smiled and then remembered something, "Hey! I was going to go grab some breakfast for me and the other girls. You want anything?"

Faith was ready to just fall asleep, but she was also hungry as all get out.

"Yeah, sure. Get me whatever you're getting. Kay? Oh, and something with a lot of caffeine? I'm about ready to pass out."

Raven nodded happily and practically skipped out the door.

Faith sauntered casually over to Sirius, who saw her approach.

His gray eyes watched her warily, "So… How are you doing?"

Faith shrugged, "No idea. I'm by no means 'good'," she tapped her head, "I got a lot going on up here, trying to sift through."

Sirius put his hand in his pockets, "Yeah, I know how that is."

"Do you?" Faith doubted it.

He gave her a look, "I was sent to a wizarding prison for 12 years, punished for a crime I didn't commit. Then, I was killed and brought back to life to help the daughter of the very woman who killed me…What do you think?"

Faith stared at him, "You're tact isn't worth shit, just so you know."

She took off her jacket and set down her sword on the lobby counter.

Then, Faith looked back to him dismally, "So my mom…killed you?"

"Yes. Well, actually she cursed me making me fall through this veil…and the veil's what killed me…"

"This must be a trip, huh? I mean, I don't think I could do it. I would have probably've given Cordy and the Powers the old finger," Faith stuck out her middle finger to emphasize her point, "and told 'em to screw themselves."

He smirked, "I actually did want to at first, and then Cordelia showed me your life. I mean you're by no means perfect," Faith feigned wounded putting her hand to her chest.

"But, you're not her. And I think you could be a great help to the Order of the Phoenix."

"Cordelia showed you my life?"

He nodded.

"Okay…not sure how I feel about that. That's sort of personal. Did you see…the bad parts? The whole she-bang?"

"Yes. I know about what you did," a shadow cast over his eyes, "I'm not okay with it, but I know you are on the right side now."

"The right side, huh? Didn't know wizards were Republican…" She gave him a wink trying to lighten the mood.

"Republican?"

"Oh, right. 'muddle' thing."

"Muggle."

"Whatever." Faith waved her hand at the correction, "So what's this Order of the Pheonix? Some sort of club? If I join, do I have to bring a dish to the potluck? Cause I gotta tell ya, I aint no cook."

"The Order is a group fighting against Voldemort. You needn't worry about any cooking, Molly Weasley cooks enough to feed an army. And her cooking is rather delicious."

"Molly Weasley, huh? She sounds… quaint."

"So are you in?" Sirius asked expectant.

"I got nothing else going on. I'm just getting done fighting one war; I might as well jump right on into the next one."

She gave him a strained smile, "No rest for the wicked."

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_A/N: I used some direct dialogue from both Angel and Buffy for the italicized parts and a few of Faith's responses at the beginning. I also added a line from the Buffy Season 8 Comic by Mayor Wilkins in #9 "No Future for You: Part IV" about his wife Edna May and how she would be proud to call Faith her daughter. _

_Review_


	10. Things Are Not What They Seem

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue, I'm poor.**

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"_Never assume the obvious is true."  
-William Safire_

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Harry Potter sat motionless in his room staring vacantly out his small window.

Dumbledore was supposed to be arriving any minute to take him to the Weasley to spend the rest of the summer.

His things were still strewn all over his room. He'd received the note three days ago but the closest he'd gotten to packing was locking Hedwig in her cage.

Harry had the time, it was just that he couldn't strike the feeling that something might happen or that the letter wasn't real, and he wouldn't really be leaving Privet Drive so soon. It had been less than a month and it felt too good to be true that he wouldn't have to stay.

Harry looked at his clock. It was eleven o'clock on the dot.

The streetlights outside dimmed and went out. Harry smashed his face against the window to get a better view.

He saw a figure coming up the walk.

Dumbledore.

Harry leapt from his seat and started packing frantically. He pulled up his large trunk on his bed and started to shove his belongings inside. His books, his invisibility cloak, the Marauder's map…

"Ow!" Harry pulled out his hand from the trunk. He had a small gash on the tip of his index finger. A little blood trickled from the cut.

Luckily it wasn't too bad. The grabbed a tissue from the table and wrapped it around the cut. Harry shuffled his things around in his trunk in order to find what had cut him. He pulled out a fragment of glass.

It was a shard of the mirror Sirius had given him. His face tightened at the reminder. Not that he'd forgotten…it just sort of added a bit of gas to the flame.

"Sirius…" The whisper escaped his lips as he held the glass carefully in his palm.

There was a loud knock at the front door.

"Shit!" He cursed. He still had a lot left to pack and was nowhere near ready to leave.

His attention went back to the mirror. He swore could hear voices coming from it…one painfully familiar.

_**"Harry?"**_

He dropped the mirror in shock. Before it had shattered into unsalvageable particles on the floor, he swore he saw a pair of piercing gray eyes looking back at him.

Harry stared at the pieces strewn on his wooden floor.

It was him! It was Sirius!

He swallowed and he could feel a lump in his throat.

Hadn't he heard him? Saw his eyes?

But…

But then, why hadn't he replied the last time he'd used the mirror - back at Hogwarts?

Harry tried to clear his thoughts.

He had to of imagined it, Sirius was definitely dead…as much as he didn't want to admit it. His mind must have been playing tricks on him.

"Who the bloody hell is knocking at this time of night?" His uncle Vernon bellowed from downstairs.

He'd totally forgotten to tell his aunt and uncle that Dumbledore was coming. Harry sprinted to the foot of the stairs to see Albus Dumbledore standing serenely at the doorway in front of Vernon.

"Ah, hello Mr. Dursley. So sorry about the time, but I assume Harry told you I would be coming?"

Harry cringed. Vernon just stood there, his jowls flapping dumbly, as he stared at Dumbledore.

"I suppose that would mean he did not. Oh well, no matter." The Professor smiled amicably and stepped inside.

The old wizard's twinkling blue eye reached Harry at the stairs, "Hello Harry, I should like to speak with you about something before he head out to the Burrow. I wish to do it inside to avoid any eavesdroppers."

"Here?" Vernon asked from behind Dumbledore.

"Yes, I do hope you don't mind."

Petunia stepped from out of the living room and stiffened when she saw Dumbledore.

"How are you this evening Petunia? And your son Dudley?" He indicated the plump teenager whose head was poking out of the bathroom doorway.

Petunia just walked up next to Vernon shutting the front door clearly hoping none of the neighbors saw the strange old man enter their home.

Harry came down the stairs quickly. Albus indicated for him to take a seat at the couch in the living room. The Dursleys disappeared to another room to avoid being in the wizard's presence. It was probably the fastest Harry had ever seen Vernon or Dudley move in his life.

"What is it Professor?" Harry asked as Dumbledore took a seat in front of him.

"It's about Sirius Black's will, Harry." Dumbledore said softly, "He left everything to you."

"Oh."

Harry didn't really care if Sirius had left him a hundred million galleons. It had come at the cost of his godfather, and he didn't think he could ever have the heart to spend it.

"There is one issue Harry, included in that which gave to you… He left you Number 12 Grimmauld Place."

"The Order can have it." Harry looked away from Dumbledore and took to examining a very interesting patch of carpet.

"While I thank you for the generosity Harry, I'm afraid it's not that simple." The older wizard stated.

"Why's that?"

"I believe that the Black Family Home may have some form of enchantment on it. One that would prevent any person not of pureblood to inherit it. But, there is one way to find out if Sirius's will held true."

Harry was curious, "How?"

Dumbledore pulled out his wand, "Well, if you inherited the House you would also inherit certain things that go along with Grimmauld Place. Like its house-elf perhaps?"

"Kreacher? I don't want to own him! Not after what he did."

"Would you rather he fell into the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange? She is the next logical heir to the Black estate, should Sirius' will be overridden. Kreacher would gladly tell her everything that went on during the Order's time there."

Harry paled, "No! She can't get the house. She killed Sirius!"

"I know Harry." Dumbledore tried to soothe him.

Then the professor flicked his wand causing Kreacher to appear in the Dursley home.

The old house-elf was shaking and with his hands covering his substantially large ears.

"No! Kreacher won't! Kreacher won't!"

"Order him to do something Harry. Then we will know whether you inherited Grimmauld Place."

"Kreacher won't obey terrible Half-Blood! Kreacher won't!"

"Kreacher shut-up!" Harry screamed.

"Kreacher won't! He won't!" the house-elf continued his rant despite Harry's order.

Kreacher continued to protest for a while and then finally took notice of the fact that Harry had ordered him to do something and he did not obey.

A wide grin spread over his face revealing the few teeth he still had left.

He let out a victorious laugh, "Ha! Kreacher doesn't serve the Half-Blood! Kreacher doesn't serve Harry Potter!"

Before they could stop him he disappeared, off to find his new master.

Harry felt as though he'd been slapped and was numb, "What now?"

Dumbledore looked surprised as well as saddened by the turn of events.

"We will just have to find a new base of operations for the Order…and hope that whatever information Kreacher could give them is not terribly detrimental to our cause. It would be slightly out of date, so perhaps it will be of little use."

Harry nodded grimly.

Bellatrix got Grimmauld Place? It wasn't right. She killed Sirius and inherited part of his possessions because of it?

Dumbledore stood solemnly, "Harry why don't you get your things then we can head to the Burrow?"

"Alright, Professor."

Harry couldn't help but recall his godfather's voice and fathomless grey eyes staring back at him.

Was he really gone?

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"They all think I'm dead." Sirius sat at the table across from Faith.

It was mid-afternoon in L.A. and Faith had just gotten up after some much needed rest. Sirius had been explaining the finer details of the Wizarding world and his past. He grabbed another slice of the delicious muggle food the Slayers had gotten called 'pizza' and set in on his plate.

"That does put a damper on things. I suppose just showing up out of nowhere wouldn't turn out so well. They'd just think you were an imposter." Faith took a sip of her drink, "Plus, it probably won't help that I'm tagging along, seeing as how not only should I be dead too… they have pre-existing prejudices when it comes to my parents. And who the heck could blame 'em?"

No kidding.

"Yeah." He took a bite of the pizza and savored the flavor. This food was exquisite.

Faith just stared at him.

"Stop making out with the pizza! God!" she teased, "You want me to leave, so you two can be alone?"

Spike chose that moment to amble into the kitchen. He opened up the refrigerator pulling out a mug which he put into the other muggle contraption pressing a button. He turned to them and saw the open box of pizza and snatched a slice.

Spike pulled the mug out of the machine and took a test swig.

Was that blood? Sirius wrinkled his nose. That was disgusting.

"Just be glad I'm not sucking it out of you. You bloody prude." Spike sneered.

Sirius noticed he looked a lot like a Malfoy at the moment. He had the same high cheek bones, pale face and condescending sneer. The likeness would be a lot more striking if his hair color were real.

"So we gotta think of a good way to approach the Order, right? Maybe track down someone specific, someone who would believe it was really you? Maybe this Dumbledore guy?" Faith proposed.

"That's a possibility I suppose. I would sort of like to go see Harry as soon as I can, maybe first thing; I need to be sure he's okay."

Faith's brow furrowed, "That frankly sounds like a terrible idea. You said the kid saw you die. He's what fifteen, sixteen? You just show up at his door he's gonna flip his shit. You need to go to someone older first, someone more level headed. We have to do this careful so we don't wind up getting cursed or something."

She took another slice, "If you want to go in gun's a blazin', go right ahead. But I'll stick to the wayside and avoid the crossfire, thank you very much." She stuffed practically the entire piece of pizza in her mouth.

This girl ate nearly as much as Buckbeak.

It was good to see Faith appeared to have learned to be a little more cautious over the years. That was something Sirius himself always had a problem with. He did things on a whim never really considering the consequences.

A few Slayers ran into the kitchen to refill their plates giggling amongst themselves. They grabbed some of the food from the table and walked off.

"You're right. But, I can't help but worry about him." Sirius couldn't forget the pain he saw in Harry's eyes as he fallen through the veil.

Faith looked sympathetic, "I'm sure he's fine. From what you've told me, he sounds like he can handle his own. I'm sure he's sad and all, but that's no reason to go in to this thing half-cocked."

She went to take another sip from her glass, but stopped half-way.

"Did you hear that?"

"No. What?" Sirius glanced around worried.

_**"Shit!" **_

Sirius's eyes bulged and he looked down to the side pocket of his pants.

"Mate…Did your pants just swear?" Spike looked bemused.

Sirius was confused as well, "I don't…"

The two-way mirror! Of course!

"Harry?" Sirius pulled the square mirror from his pocket quickly.

He saw his godson, but it was muted and he could only see a glimpse of Harry's eyes. Lily's eyes.

Harry started to get smaller and smaller…and then the image shattered.

"Harry! Harry!" He got up from his chair frantic.

"What is that thing?" Faith stood as well to get a look at it.

"It's…It's a two way mirror. I gave the other mirror to Harry, so he could talk to me if he needed too. I'd forgotten I had it."

He gazed at the small mirror worried, "I think he may have broken his…" Sirius shoved the mirror in his pocket, "He may be in trouble. We have to go!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Calm down there cuz, lets not be conclusion jumpers here!" Faith held up her hands , "Maybe he just dropped it. I mean, you are dead after all, having a dead guy reply to your message would certainly make me drop something accidentally."

"I can't risk it! We need to…"

"Okay, okay fine! Can you transport there or what?"

"I can apparate, but I don't think I can manage such a distance from here to London, especially if I were going to side-along apparate with you."

"Well that wicca lady, Cimmeron, can send us back, she's probably rested enough to open another portal…"

The two of them rushed out of the kitchen and toward the stairs to find her.

"Girly, if you think you're gonna go anywhere with this guy without me, you've got another thing coming!" Spike came running after them.

"Spike…" Faith started to protest.

"No! You listen to me. You came here to help Angel and the rest of us. You! All these other slayers wouldn't be here if not for you! The city might still be overrun if you had not hauled ass to get here. I might not be standing here if you hadn't come. While you may not think that means anything, it means a hell of a lot to me! I'm not letting you run off by yourself!"

Faith crossed her arms appraising him, "What would B say? You come back to un-life and you're off helping me? I would love for you to come with me, just so I can see the look on her face when she finds out."

Spike chuckled and turned to Sirius, "So what do you say to me joining your little crusade?"

"We can use all the help we can get." Sirius had his doubts about the vampire, but Faith seemed to trust him.

"Then, perhaps you would not mind if I accompanied you as well. I am loath to let you simply take my pet and leave me behind," Illyria stared at them from the corner; it looked as though she had been observing the Slayers eating on the other side of the room.

Faith looked uncomfortable at the thought of the Old One coming along, "Umm…Leery, how do we know you won't, I don't know…join the evil wizards?"

Illyria cocked her head, "I care not which of your pathetic species rules this planet."

"That's not really reassuring Illyria." Faith frowned.

"Nor was it meant to be. I do not wish to help you, or any other primitive faction. I merely wish to keep an eye on the half-breed. He is…important…to me." Illyria looked uncomfortable with the admission.

Spike patted the blue woman on the shoulder, "Thanks Smurfette. You're important to me too."

Illyria eyed the vampire's hand and glowered.

Raven passed the three of them on the way to the kitchen. She stopped when she saw them all standing there.

"You going somewhere Faith?"

"I'm going to England with Sirius. I have something I need to do."

The blond looked at Spike and Illyria then back to Faith, "And they are going with you? Can I come too?"

"I don't know Rave, that doesn't sound like a good idea…It's going to be…"

"What? Dangerous?" The girl scowled, "Please! I'm a Slayer just like you! And I've been stationed on an active Hellmouth for over a year! Why can't I come?" She whined.

"Princess has got a point." Spike smirked.

Faith sighed, "Look I…"

There was popping noise followed by the appearance of a short decrepit being between the younger slayer and Sirius, that caused everyone to flinch backward.

"Where is Kreacher's mistress? Where is Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Gah! Kill it!" Raven lept back and grabbed for a weapon.

Kreacher had his back to Sirius so he didn't take notice of him. "Why would my mistress associate with filthy muggles? That is not…" He spun slowly to look at the group and stopped dead when he saw Sirius.

"Sirius Black!?"

Sirius thought the old house-elf was going to have a heart attack.

If only.

"Surprised to see me Kreacher?"

"But… You are dead! The mudbloods and blood traitors traipsing through Mistress's house said so. This is not possible!" Kreacher stumbled and fell backward.

"Afraid it is."

"You are still my Master?" Kreacher panted, "I sent myself to my master, and it sent me to you! It was supposed to be BELLATRIX!!"

"What the hell is that thing?" Raven lowered the knife she'd grabbed.

"This is Kreacher, he's a house-elf. House-elves are servants bound to the houses of Wizarding families. He belongs to the Black Family Home, which I currently own." He looked back to Kreacher menacingly, "Although I would rather I didn't own him."

"I think the feeling's mutual." Faith knelt closer to elf and grinned, "You know...he's sort of cute."

Spike sputtered, "Are you high Slayer? He looks like Gollum mated with a raisin!"

"He's like one of those pug dogs…so ugly they're adorable…"

She looked at Sirius excitedly, "Can I keep him?"

Sirius couldn't believe his ears.

Kreacher huffed, "Kreacher is not a pet! Kreacher is a house-elf!"

Faith smirked, "My mistake."

She held out a hand in greeting, "Hello Kreacher, the house-elf. I'm Faith."

He looked at the hand like it bore the plague as he pulled himself back to his feet.

Then Kreacher actually looked at the owner of said hand and stood rigid.

"Kreacher knows you."

"Does he?" She raised an eyebrow.

"My mistress- she wept for days, when her niece's daughter died. But, you are not dead…"

"There's a lot of that going around." Spike remarked.

"Kreacher does not understand how this is…How both Sirius Black and Eris Lestrange are not dead…"

He stepped closer to Faith nearly hitting her face with his long crooked nose, "And he wants to know why the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange, would associate with such filth as Kreacher's 'Master'."

"Filthy, huh?" She stood and looked Sirius over.

"I'm mean… he could use a shower, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's filthy. Smelly, maybe." She winked playfully.

"I believe the 'filthy' to which this minor humanoid speaks is more metaphorical that physical." Illyria stated as she studied Kreacher.

"Wow. Really?" Faith rolled her eyes.

Illyria glared at Faith, "Are you mocking me?"

"Who me? Why would I mock you? You're Illyria…god-king of the primordium….You were god to a god….blah blah blah…whine, whine, whine."

Illyria looked like she might attack Faith for her impertinence, but she did not make any move to assault her.

Sirius pushed past Faith toward the house elf, "Kreacher, can you check on Harry for me? I need to know if he's alright."

Kreacher showed irritation at this, "Yes, of course Master. Kreacher lives to serve. But, it would be a waste for him to check on Harry Potter, when he already knows the Potter brat is perfectly fine."

"How do you know?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Because Kreacher was just with him and Albus Dumbledore. They wished to see if your will, which gave the Black home to that terrible half-blood- Oh, what my mistress would say- overruled the house enchantments." Then Kreacher sneered, "They think the house and Kreacher now belong to Bellatrix. Kreacher certainly wishes this too."

"Yeah, I bet you're just dying to spill all the Order's secrets to that bitch." Sirius growled.

Faith gave him an unreadable look at that. She might have been angry or simply unnerved by his unfettered hatred of her mom, it was hard to tell.

She clapped her hands together changing the subject, "Well, there you go Sirius. There's no need to go rushing back to England before we even get our pants on straight."

"Besides, I think I may have a plan."

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_review _


	11. First Impressions

**Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Harry Potter...If I did, I would be rolling in money or something...not writing fanfiction.**

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_All right, wild child full of grace  
Savio__r of the human race, your cool face  
Natural child, terrible child  
Not your mothers or your fathers child  
Your our child, screamin wild  
An ancient lunatic reigns in the trees of the night_

_With hunger at her heels, freedom in her eyes  
She dances on her knees, pirate prince at her side  
Stirrin into a hollow idols eyes  
Wild child full of grace, savior of the human race  
-"Wild Child", The Doors_

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"I don't understand what you expect to gain by meeting with these people, Albus. They are muggles, I do not see how they would provide any help against the Dark Lord." Severus Snape followed the older wizard through the streets of Diagon Alley.

He pushed past a group of second year Ravenclaws shopping with their parents. He gave them an intimidating look and they shrieked back in terror.

"Ah yes. I would imagine Voldemort would not see the advantage either- all the more reason to have them, I say." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "I also think that this Watcher's council and their Slayers would be a great resource to the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort is recruiting vampires and various other magical creatures…What better defense than getting vampire Slayers to side with us?"

"They say they are Slayers, but I've never seen any evidence that the Slayer does or ever has existed. And what's more, even the legend explicitly states that there is only one Slayer at a time, and you say these people claim there are hundreds. They are clearly deluded." Snape scoffed.

"I have come to believe that the Slayer is very real Severus. I met a young woman many many years ago that fought off a pack of vampires with startling efficiency, with no more than a wooden stake and her fists. She may very well have been one of these Slayers."

"But, you didn't ask her?"

"I tried, but she only spoke Japanese and I'm afraid that I do not speak it. She wouldn't let me cast a spell to help translate. She tried to attack me thinking I was a threat," He chuckled, "I decided it best to just leave and let it remain a mystery. No need to resort to violence just to satiate my curiosity."

The two of them approached the back entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

"How did these muggles know of the Leaky Cauldron? And how in Merlin's name do they expect to get in when they can not see it? And how did they get their hands on an owl in the first place?" Snape frowned.

"We will just have to ask them when we get inside, won't we?"

Dumbledore walked into the usually crowded tavern. Severus went after him.

Snape scanned the room. Tom stood at the bar giving a large mug of butterbeer to an excited teenage girl in a well worn robe.

A few of recently graduated 7th year boys from Griffindor were leering at her. Typical.

A few of the more deplorable patrons where hanging to the shadows at either end of the bar and several of the booths. There were a few witches and wizards meeting with friends over a drink. The bar was less crowded than Severus had ever seen it.

Not many people went out anymore. Not after the Ministry confirmed the Dark Lord's return.

He spotted them. Or what he thought the most likely candidates from the group in the bar.

Dumbledore had reached the same conclusion heading toward the couple sitting at a corner booth along the far wall.

One was a woman, long dark hair, heavy lidded eyes.

She was wearing a very low cut top covered by a jean jacket. Definitely a muggle.

She was taking a sip of her firewhisky and conversing with the blonde man seated next to her. He had bleach blonde hair and looked like one of those muggle rock musicians Severus had heard of when he was younger.

The girl took notice of their approach.

Her eyes bore into Snape's. She was like a predator; cold and calculating.

It made Severus squirm uncomfortably.

She also had this look about her, the overly cocky one, that indicated she thought she knew something they didn't. It made him dislike her instantly.

She spoke something to her companion and he turned to watch them come up.

Albus was the first to speak, "Hello. Are you the representatives of the Watcher's Council that Rupert Giles spoke of in his letter?"

The girl nodded, "That would be us. You betcha."

Severus flinched at the abrasive accent the girl was sporting.

She stood and held out a hand, "I'm Faith Lehane, and this is Spike." She tilted her head to her companion.

"Albus Dumbledore", he took her hand in his and Severus could tell the girl stiffened when she touched the old wizard.

Possibly she sensed the power within the elder man?

Albus gave no indication that he had noticed.

"And this is Severus Snape."

Severus nodded. Faith offered her hand cordially to him as well.

He stared at it guardedly, then gave her his normal intimidating glower. This rolled right off the girl to no effect. Clearly she would be harder to intimidate than his students.

She snorted, "Fine whatevah Sev", she gave him a wink, "You don't want to play nice, don't hurt me none."

Faith sat back down in her chair.

Both Dumbledore and Snape took a seat across from them. Severus put up a Silencing Charm to ward off any eavesdroppers.

"So why does the Watcher's Council wish to aide us? And I must say I am curious that they contacted me and not the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore said.

"The Ministry? I'd bet my left tit they are a bunch of bloated know nothing windbags. Like most organizations that have a false sense of superiority." Faith stated offhandedly.

This girl's vocabulary was certainly... colorful.

"But, the Council and the Slayers want to help you because- well, its pretty much our thing. We take out big bads…and from what I hear, your guy is looking to go everywhere with his cooky self… and since we protect the normal people… That just won't be tolerated."

Albus smiled happily at the girl.

Great.

The old man was already taking a shine to this Faith Lehane woman. Snape still didn't trust her and something about her made his skin crawl. It was more than just her cocky and predator like stare. How she was able to exude both in one glance was beyond him.

"And how do you expect to help defeat the Dark Lord? I highly doubt these Slayers of yours are any more talented in fighting magical creatures than Gilderoy Lockhart."

The girl's eyes narrowed, "I don't know who that is, but I'm pretty sure the youngest of my girls can rip you limb from limb without even breaking a sweat."

She bared her teeth threateningly, "And this Must-Not-Be named guy of yours… He's just a damn wizard…Hell! B took out a God."

Faith scoffed, "No offense, but your little Dark Lord is small potatoes."

Snape bristled at that and was ready to retort. He wanted to put this girl in her place, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"So how did you know to contact me, I wonder?"

"Oh, right that. That's where it gets complicated." She shifted in her seat.

"Is it as complicated as the fact that a vampire Slayer is companioned by a vampire?"

Dumbledore indicated the blond man next to her.

Snape's head snapped to look at the man. A vampire! Bloody hell. And this girl was a Slayer? That probably explained her overconfident personality.

Severus had thought a Slayer would have been much bigger and Amazonian-like than this woman. It made him even more ardent to the idea that these Slayers weren't anything special.

"No. It's actually more complicated than that. Spike got himself a soul a few years back. He rolls with the good guys now. I'm not going to stake an ally. I think that's a sound policy."

"Not that you could stake me, Lehane. More than one Slayer has tried, and let's just say it didn't turn out well for them."

Spike's cockney accent came as sort of a surprise.

Severus was half expecting the vampire to have the same strange Yankee accent.

"Yeah… Try not bringing up that again Spike. Killing Slayers- Generally not a good thing to be bragging about around one…whether you were soulless or not back then." Faith warned the vampire.

Spike backed off the subject and turned his attention back to Severus and Albus.

Faith continued, "Anyway…umm, about me knowing to talk to you. A wizard told me."

"Does this wizard have a name?" Albus looked interested.

"He does." Faith evaded the question. "I was in Los Angeles, California when he approached me - Or actually, he appeared in front of me..."

"Can you just tell us his name?" Snape demanded angrily.

"Well, well. Look at you. Think you're scary?" She dismissed him, "Please. I know 12 year old girls more frightening."

Severus glared. He wanted to show this girl just how scary he could be.

Albus chuckled at her spunk and placed a calming hand on Snape's shoulder.

"We would simply like to know the identity of who directed you to us, so that we might thank him."

Faith sighed, "Sure, I can tell you. It's whether or not you'll believe me that is the issue."

"I think you'll find I can be quite open minded."

"Uh huh." Faith appeared skeptical, "This wizard that came to me? He's supposed to be dead."

Severus didn't like the sound of that.

There was one person she might be referring to and he prayed it wasn't.

"He says his name is Sirius Black."

So much for the power of prayer.

Dumbledore stood up quicker than a man of his age should have been capable, "I did not come here to have some girl play a cruel joke such as this!"

"Cruel joke?" Faith rolled her eyes, "If I was going to play a cruel joke on you I would think of something a hell of a lot more creative than that. I can be quite inventive, I'll have you know."

"How do you know it is really him? And not someone else posing as him?" Snape asked.

"I suppose I don't. But I know whoever he is, he's trustworthy. I know some people that can find those sorts of things out."

Severus grunted, "A person with a sharp mind and keen occulmency skills can fool anyone."

"Not always, Snivellus." Faith spat.

Snape tightened a fist around the wand in his pocket and his grinded his teeth together.

"What did you call me?"

"I called you what Sirius told me to. He told me it would really piss you off. And it would be funny."

"Looks like it did." She raised an eyebrow smiling, "And it was."

Dumbledore took his seat again slowly.

"How could Sirius be alive? He fell through a veil leading to death."

"Exactly. You don't have a body. That means you don't have any real substantial proof that he died! Or in this case, that he stayed that way."

"That's impossible. Not even the Dark Lord himself can just come back from the dead!" Snape was exasperated.

This caused both Spike and Faith to begin laughing uncontrollably like Severus had just told them the best joke they'd ever heard. And Severus Snape hated it when people laughed at him.

"Please I'm supposed to be dead! I got fried to a crisp closing the Sunnydale Hellmouth. Then, I got brought back a few months ago." Spike wiped a tear from his eye.

"And Buffy Summers, this other Slayer... She got pulled out of heaven two years ago and Angel, this other close friend of mine, got pulled out of Hell several years before that. Death is not always the be all and end all. It usually is, sure, we get that. But there can be exceptions." Faith crossed her arms defiantly.

"You are the ones who closed the Boca del Inferno?" Dumbledore asked clearly impressed.

The two of them nodded, "We had some help. But, Spike did most of it. He wore this amulet thing that imploded the Hellmouth and the fricasseed the Turok-Han vampires…"

"And incinerated me, and let me tell you that was not a pleasant experience."

"Yes. I would imagine." Albus answered lightheartedly.

"Why would Sirius Black-" Snape's eyes darkened at the name, "appear before you? You are just a girl- a so-called Slayer, with what I imagine amounts to only a fraction above the strength of the typical individual. Why are you important?"

"Severus, please." Dumbledore admonished him.

The girl coughed and he thought he heard her mutter the word 'asshole' under her breath.

"I apologize for Severus' attack on your person, Miss Lehane. But, I am afraid he does raise a valid point however crass his delivery. Why would Sirius Black be resurrected and sent to you?"

"Because of my catching personality?" The girl supplied hopefully.

Neither Snape or Dumbledore were buying it.

Faith deflated.

"Okay. I suppose I had to get this out sometime. But, I can almost guarantee you're not going to like it."

She knelt closer to them, "My parents, they were wizards. The Watcher's Council took me from them when I was little, erased my memory and put me with another family. From what Sirius tells me, they thought all wizards were dangerous."

"That is disturbing," Albus was unnerved, "I must say such an act as stealing a child from their family for such ignorant reasons…" But it seemed the Slayer wasn't finished.

"That's not the part I meant. It's more about who my parents are, than what the Council did to me. Although, I am pissed about that. I would love to give them a piece of my mind...and my fist. Too bad those who were responsible were either stabbed to death or blown up! So I can't really punish them for their douche-baggery."

"So who are your parents?" Dumbledore had that look which indicated that he already knew the answer.

Severus tried to think of who they might be. A witch and wizard who lost a child, who the Order would be unhappy to learn she was the daughter of. Nothing was coming to mind. Something itched at the very back of his mind; an inkling that was just below the surface that would not break through.

Faith smacked her lips and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm….let's see- Someone who the Order of the Phoenix has issues with, someone who lost a child – a child assumed to be dead. And finally, the real kicker, they are very closely associated with Sirius Black..." She leaned closer to Snape smiling sinisterly.

"Gee… that **IS** a tuffy."

The girl's face became clearer as she pulled away from the darkness of the corner and leaned toward him. That compounded by her words and fiendish appearance, gave Snape a start.

"Bellatrix." The name escaped his lips.

He leapt up knocking his chair over and pointed his wand directly at her.

"Got it in one. So sorry, but I'm all out of prizes. Oh I know!" She rifled through her pockets. "Do you like steak?"

She pulled out a wooden stake from her trousers and held it out to him casually.

"Wow, that was bleedin' corny as shit Slayer." Spike rolled his eyes.

Even though Snape had put up a silencing charm the people in the bar still noticed the confrontation. The girl at the bar nursing her butterbeer watched them intently, while the boys where caught between eyeing her and the commotion at the corner of the bar. The other clientèle of the bar noticed the fuss but attempted to ignore it.

Faith eyed the wand that was leveled at her head.

"You know, I was actually expecting you to threaten me with bodily harm much earlier than this. I'm usually so much better at making people hate me. I guess I just need to brush up."

Her cheerful smile didn't seem to reach her eyes. They seemed to be consumed with an indescribable pain and sadness. It was an expression that Severus recognized intimately.

It was the same look he saw in his own every time he looked in the mirror, whenever he would let down the façade of indifference he usually carried with him…

It was the true self that he never let anyone else see, no one else but Albus Dumbledore.

Severus felt a hand grab him forcefully from behind and a sharp knife press against his throat.

The vice-like grip held him in place and he could not break free of it. He was half expecting to see Hagrid standing behind him, but what he saw made him nearly slice his own throat against the knife.

It was the little girl in tattered robes that had been sitting at the bar.

"I'd put your wand down Mister. You try and hurt Faith and I'll make sure you never have children." She tightened her grip on his shoulder making him hiss in pain.

The Griffindor boys are the bar watched perplexed as the girl threatened the Potions Master. The rest of the bar patrons took that moment to leave in a rush of whispers and frightened murmurs.

"I see that you and your friend did not come alone." Severus stated flatly.

Dumbledore studied the young girl, "Could you perhaps have her release my Potions Professor. I'm afraid I would have some difficulty securing another of his caliber, should this young lady harm him."

The brunette took another sip of her firewhisky, "How 'bout he lowers his wand first. I'm afraid I would have some difficulty securing another face of this caliber should this jackass harm it." Faith retorted.

"Put your wand away Severus." Dumbledore ordered.

Snape sneered at the girl in disdain. This was Bellatrix and Rodolphus's child! Why should they trust her?

He lowered his wand grudgingly. The girl holding him pulled the knife away and released him with a shove. Severus glared at the teenage girl and she just gave him an unaffected smile.

"I must say I am impressed by your ingenuity," Dumbledore looked at the three of them, "That you had the foresight to have backup to protect yourself, should the need arise. I think you may be a great asset to the Order."

Snape's eyes bulged, "You can be serious! How can we trust these people? She just admitted she was the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange!"

"And you are one of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. I hardly see your point." Dumbledore said flatly.

The younger girl took a seat next to Faith and reached to take a sip of the older girl's firewhisky and Faith swatted her hand away. The girl pouted.

"God Raven, those robes smell like ass." Faith commented as she grimaced at the girl.

"It's not my fault! Kreacher said he cleaned them! That little jerk probably took a dump in them instead just to spite me! He wouldn't stop calling me 'The Irritating Muggle Dirt'. I wanted to drop-kick him."

"You've met Kreacher?"

Dumbledore raised a brow, then had an epiphany. "Ah. Right. When I suspected Grimmauld Place went to Bellatrix and not Harry, it was neither. Sirius wasn't dead, so his possessions passed to no one. When Kreacher went to locate his Master, he found Sirius Black with you."

Faith bobbed her head in affirmation.

Why was Dumbledore being so quick to trust these people? Severus didn't understand the man sometimes.

Well, frankly he didn't understand Dumbledore the rest of the time either.

"So where is Sirius now?" Albus asked them.

"Back at Grimmauld Place. Our other 'friend' is there with him now." Spike told them, "Illyria has become quite fond of conversing with that portrait of Sirius's mother. I think Blue Bird is taking notes from the old broad, so she can add to her already impressive collection of insults."

"Is Illyria another slayer like you two young ladies?" the old wizard wondered aloud.

Faith and Raven shared a look, while the elder replied.

"Not quite."

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_reviews make me post quicker ;)_


	12. Worry

**Disclaimer: This is done for fun, not for money. Don't sue me. **

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_Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.  
-Arthur Somers Roche_

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"I'm scared for him Bella." The blond woman sat at kitchen table her cup of tea shaking in her hand.

Bellatrix Lestrange sat across from her, "Cissy. He will be aiding the Dark Lord. Such an honor outweighs the danger."

"He's my son! I don't want this for him. He's only sixteen!" Narcissa pleaded to her sister.

"I could think of no higher privilege than giving my child up to the Dark Lord! You would do well to start feeling the same!" Bellatrix warned her.

"You don't know what it's like Bella! I might lose him! He's my-" She caught herself mid-sentence, "Oh! I'm so sorry Bellatrix! I just… I just forgot..."

Bella's face darkened, "It's perfectly alright sister. I myself have not forgotten, and I never will. I see my little Eris' face staring back at me every minute of every day. In Askaban it was one of the few things the Dementors could haunt me with. So, I do understand your fear, but you must…you must let go of it."

"Let go of it? Draco might be killed…I have enough fear worrying after Lucius…but now my son…he's my blood, my baby boy."

Bellatrix swirled the tea in her cup, "You are my blood as well, Cissy. If you defy the Dark Lord for Draco… I will not protect you from him."

"I know Bella."

Narcissa pushed her cup away to the center of the table.

Bellatrix took her sister's hands in hers, "I will look after him Cissy. Protect him as much as I am able. But I can make no promises."

Narcissa cried.

"Thank you Bella." She embraced her sisters tightly.

It wasn't enough.

Narcissa didn't want Draco to become a Death Eater. Period.

But what could she do?

She recalled the pain and agony her dear sister went through after Eris. Bellatrix was never the same. She devoted herself even more to Voldemort.

She barely spoke to her husband outside of the Death Eater assignments they had together.

Bellatrix withdrew completely and became ten times more ruthless toward those she tortured.

Like what Bella had done to the Longbottoms all those years ago. Before then, she would have just killed them once they hadn't given her the answers she sought. Instead she used the Cruciamentum curse on them until they lost their minds.

If Draco was killed, would Narcissa become the same way? A void of a person, incapable of remorse, with an overwhelming need to cause pain just to fill the fissure?

She might.

Draco was her everything, if he was gone…she was afraid what she might become.

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Illyria stood staring at Walburga as she wailed incoherently. The portraits eyes rolled into the back of her head. It looked as though Sirius's mother was beginning to tire of her screaming.

"It is such strange magic. Encapsulating the dead into a portrait so that their essence can remain. This woman has been trapped here. She is forced to watch a world she is no longer apart of. She is forced to watch on –helpless- as her domain is sullied by those she deems below her. Trapped in a two dimensional frame. A two-dimensional life. The parallels between her and myself are…."

Sirius sighed, "So that's a no, then?"

"I could remove this portrait if I wished. But, I do not…wish."

Illyria touched the picture and Walburga flinched away from her.

"Filth! Mud! Bl-Blood-traitors." Walburga rasped. She had been shouting for the better part of an hour.

"It is absurd that she thinks herself above me. But, I do find her intriguing."

Illyria stepped away from the portrait. "This ranking you primitives have devised amongst yourselves...it's odd. Some of your kind believe themselves superior to the others. But you are all muck. You all ooze and adhere collectively…you are all equally insignificant. To assign some as better than others? It is perplexing."

"I find it perplexing too. I think maybe it's just that some people like to feel superior to others, so that they can feel better about themselves."

"You speak as though you do not suffer the same need."

Illyria gave him what Sirius thought may have been a smile. "But that is a paradox. You think yourself better… for not thinking yourself better."

Merlin, this woman gave him a headache.

He didn't know much about Old Ones, but if he ever met another one and they were anything like her... he'd rather they just killed him so he could avoid the incessant questions and philosophical speeches.

"Yeah, at least I don't kill people to prove my point."

"Maybe you should."

"Excuse me?"

"That is how you win a war. You must maim and you must slaughter. You cause your enemy pain in any and all ways available to you. You must be ruthless and unwavering. This is how you achieve victory."

"There are other ways." Sirius countered.

"But none nearly as effective."

She had a point, but Sirius would never admit that to her.

Sirius headed to the kitchen.

"I wonder if the Slayer and my pet are finished meeting with your leader."

"I don't know. Maybe." Sirius collapsed into a chair.

He'd thought he'd finally escaped the hell that was the Black Home when he'd been brought back to help his cousin.

But, now he was right back where he'd started.

Trapped.

Trapped like his mother in the portrait and trapped like Illyria in Winfred Burkle's body.

It was making him mental.

He needed to do something. He couldn't just wait anymore.

"I have to go see Harry. I'm sick of waiting here for Faith to come back. This place is so damn suffocating!" Sirius got up.

Illyria stood before Sirius as he pulled out his wand.

"Why do you need to do this? Your servant already assured you of your godson's safety."

"I didn't come back to life just so I could sit in this damned house all over again! I have to see him! I have to do something!"

"You are being irrational, erratic. You were calm, collected not but a moment ago. Your actions are akin to that of a menstruating female."

Illyria looked down at his pants.

"Are you a woman?"

She started to reach toward his crotch to check causing Sirius to jump back quickly.

Illyria's hand dropped.

"I'm going to see Harry."

Sirius prepared to apparate and Illyria grabbed his arm.

"Then you will take me with you."

"Fine." Sirius took hold of Illyria, "Ready?"

She nodded slowly watching him carefully.

"I am."

The two reappeared a few miles from Burrow.

He didn't want to apparate to close to the home; he needed to think of how he would approach Harry.

He turned to the Old One to see her standing ramrod straight- her eyes closed in pleasure.

"You okay Illyria?"

She opened her icy blue eyes, "It reminded me of what I once possessed, my power. I could travel dimensions and alter time as easily as you might draw breath. This apparition of yours, it echoes of that which I lost."

Illyria grabbed him, "I wish to do it again."

"Maybe later." Sirius shook her off and began walking down to street toward the Weasley home.

"What is it that you hope to accomplish by seeing this child?" Illyria followed his stride.

"I just need to see him. Harry was left in the dark all last year by Dumbledore, I won't let them keep this from him too! I need to let him know I'm alive."

"I believe the Slayer made a valid argument when she thought it best for you not to run to see this adolescent boy. The minds of your young are fragile. He will not take it well." Illyria surmised.

"Harry's not fragile! He'll be fine... after he finds out it is really me."

Sirius began to change shape into a black dog, and then went in to a full on sprint toward the Burrow.

Illyria followed behind.

"Idiot."

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"Come on Harry! Let's play Quidditch!" The twins dragged Harry Potter out of the house.

"Cheer up mate!" George smacked Harry on the shoulder.

"We told you we were sorry about the punching telescope! See, your black eye is already cleared up." Fred inspected Harry's face.

"And we really didn't mean to give the nosebleed nougats!" George supplied.

"Or the canary creams." Fred flew off.

"Or to let loose those Wildfire Whiz-bangs in your and Ronnikins room!" George followed his brother.

Harry sighed. He might as well find something to be happy about. And playing Quidditch was something that made him happy.

Maybe it would help him forget about Sirius and Bellatrix, at least for a little while.

He jumped on his broom to join Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny in the air. They had been playing for several minutes. Fred and George as one team and Ginny and himself another, with Ron as goal keeper.

Harry got hold of the quaffle. George was descending on him. He expertly dodged the bludger Fred aimed in his direction. He was able to get by them and was on his way to try and score on Ron.

He saw something below running in the field below. It was a big black dog.

Harry's attention was engrossed in the dog as it approached. It looked like...

"Umpf!"

Harry collided with Ron and dropping the quaffle.

Both Harry and Ron began to fall in a tangle of arms and legs.

Hermione screamed something from the ground and their descent slowed. They still landed on the ground painfully but not hard enough to create any lasting damage.

"What is wrong with you!?" Ron pulled himself to his feet.

Harry ignored him and searched for the black dog frantically. There it was, running right for them.

Harry's breath caught in his throat and he couldn't speak. Ron didn't have the same problem when he saw what Harry was staring at.

"Bloody hell. That can't be…"

That was when a thin brunette woman came rushing up the hill after the dog.

"I'm so sorry! Little Dixie just got away from me! I hope he didn't interrupt yer game."

The woman had a strange drawl, possibly American.

The dog seemed to look at the woman with an irritated expression.

It looked so much like Sirius…But it couldn't be.

"I swear, Dixie here is just two sandwiches sort of a picnic; I can't do a thing with 'em!", the girl stated as she patted the dog happily.

"How did you get here? Are you a muggle?" Ron asked as he took in the girl's modest skirt and flowery tank top.

"A muggle? Ha! No silly!" She smacked Ron on the shoulder.

Ron gave Harry a puzzled and amused look.

"I'm just visiting a cousin a few miles from here…" She looked around, "You know what? Maybe its east of here? I'm not really sure anymore, Dix here got me all sorts of lost!" She laughed harmoniously.

The two twins and Ginny landed to see what was going on. George and Fred jumped in front of the woman with huge grins plastered on her face.

"Hello there Miss! I'm Forge!"

"And I'm Gred!" They both put their hands out to her.

Her eyes seemed to flash and odd expression for a few seconds before it vanished and she smiled adorably.

She sure was odd, Harry gave her that.

Ginny pushed past her brothers, "I'm so sorry about them. I'm Ginny." She motioned the twin on her left, "This is George," then her right "and this is Fred."

The girl beamed even brighter, "My name is Fred! Well, actually it's Winifred Burkle, but everybody calls me Fred."

"That's brilliant!" Fred Weasley put an arm around her, "Us Freds, we gotta stick together!"

She giggled at him and her cheeks reddened at the attention.

The dog decided to let out a loud bark causing everyone to jump.

"Now you stop that Dixie! I told you we shouldn't have gone on a walk! You are nothing but trouble." She pulled the dog to her and it growled in resentment.

"I don't think that dog likes you very much." Ginny stared at it. And it was plain Ginny was coming to the same conclusion as Harry and Ron about who the dog looked like.

"He just doesn't want to leave you nice people. Dixie loves me!" She hugged the dog and it nearly bit her.

She stared at it and her happy face melted into cold displeasure. Her entire persona seemed to leave her.

It made Harry itch to grab his wand from his pocket.

The dog broke free and ran toward him.

Harry gasped when he saw that….

That it was changing shape.

"Wha…How?" He mumbled.

The others stared on in shock.

Sirius Black was just standing there… staring at him.

His gray fathomless eyes revealed a rapt concern. Harry fell backward and landed on his back and started inching away slowly.

"Don't be afraid Harry. It's me." He knelt down to him.

The others held out their wands quickly at the thing that looked and spoke like Sirius Black.

"I don't know who you are but this is a sick joke and you will leave this instant!" Hermione shrieked, her wand shifting from Winifred to 'Sirius'.

Winifred glared at 'Sirius' her eyes loathing.

"You are undoubtedly one of the least intelligent of your species, Sirius Black. I told you the futility of this exploit."

The twins who were standing next to her watched in confusion at the change in her speech pattern.

"Species?" Fred frowned.

Winifred's addressed the twin who had spoken.

"Yes. Species. Humans. Muck unworthy of your station." She tilted her head.

"I'm so glad you joined me Illyria, you're making this so much easier."

He sounded so much like Sirius. Harry's eyes started tearing up.

"Stop it!" He screamed.

The man looked at him with those eyes. The same eyes he remembered. The eyes he saw fall through the veil. The eyes he saw dull as they passed out of this world.

The eyes he thought he would never see again.

"Stop looking like him! Stop it, damn it! He's dead! You're not him! I don't know who you are but you've got no right to look like Sirius!" Harry yelled in furious rage.

"Cease your bleating child! This is the man you call Sirius Black, so it speaks to reason that he has every right to look like himself."

The woman walked over to 'Sirius' with a grace of movement that was frightening. She disregarded the wands pointed toward her.

"It's me Harry…I just… I needed to see you. I was brought back..." The man pleaded.

Harry's anger flooded his senses and he pulled out his wand.

"Sirius is dead! You can't come back from that!"

Harry desperately wanted to believe it was him, but all his instincts told him it could not. Whoever this man was, he was going to pay for pretending to be his godfather.

"Stupefy!"

Harry's spell shot out of his wand and straight toward the imposter's chest.

A figure whipped in front of him from the direction of the house.

It knocked the man away from the spell and onto the grass. The spell hit the shoulder of the newcomer. The woman grunted slightly as she fell on top of the intended target.

She flipped back to her feet in a flourish and show of athleticism few could match.

It seemed that the spell had little to no effect on the woman.

She helped up the phony Sirius only to push him back roughly.

"What the hell were you thinking!?"

The brunette female continued to yell at him, "I told you to stay at Grimmuald Place and above all, NOT go to see Harry!"

Harry could see that Dumbledore, Snape, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and a girl he didn't recognize were rushing in their direction from the house.

The man growled at her, "I wasn't going to stay in that dreadful house all over again and take Kreacher's word for it that Harry was alright!"

The two stood facing each other posturing like wild animals for several seconds.

The Weasleys and Hermione just looked on dumbfounded.

"I attempted to stop him, Slayer. But you made it quite clear that I was not to harm him. So my ability to do so was… stunted." The woman who had introduced herself as Winifred Burkle told her.

"Well thanks for trying 'Leer." The woman looked at Harry, her eyes gauging.

"See. I told you he would flip his shit."

Harry's world was spinning. What was going on? He talked, walked, and acted in everyway that Sirius Black would.

He had hoped and dreamed that there was some way that his godfather could be brought back. That he wasn't dead. Now that it finally might have happened, he didn't know what to think.

Was it really him?

"Sirius?" He asked hopefully to the man before him.

"Yes Harry. It's me." He reached into his pocket slowly.

Harry pointed his wand out, expecting the man to pull out his wand or something else equally dangerous.

He pulled out a small mirror tossing it to the grass at Harry's feet.

The two-way mirror. Harry almost choked on his own breath.

"I saw you, Harry. You broke your mirror I think. Gave me a bit of a fright."

"I gave **you **a bit of a fright?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh.

Then he cried.

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_Thanks for your reviews! _


	13. Half Truths, Lies & Ice Cream

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, not mine, blah blah.**

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_Giles: You mean life?  
Buffy: Yeah. Does it get easy?  
Giles: What do you want me to say?  
Buffy: Lie to me.  
Giles: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.  
Buffy: Liar.  
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2 "Lie to Me"_

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The brunette woman sat sprawled over top the couch in the Weasley's sitting room. Her leg was swaying back and forth off the side of the arm rest.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

It was getting on Harry's nerves. She was so casual.

Like she owned the place.

Sirius was in the backyard speaking with Dumbledore, Snape, and Ron's parents. Snape and Sirius were arguing. Harry could hear them. Just like old times. Like his godfather never died.

They'd made the 'kids' stay inside while they questioned him and found out what had happened. The woman's three other companions were in the other room conversing softly.

But she had decided to sit in there with them, for some reason.

Mad Eye had arrived a few minutes ago and was leaning against the entryway watching her carefully with his real eye his other one rolled into the back of his head concentrating on the conversation outside.

The woman had pulled out a knife and was currently picking the dirt out from under her fingernails with it.

"Who are you?" Harry eyed the switchblade warily.

"Name's Faith." She swung her legs around and off the armrest.

"That's not…" Harry sputtered, "I don't care what your name is…how did…Sirius? Did you…?"

He couldn't even get the words out.

"Did I bring him back?" Faith supplied, "No. Not really. Sort of… I guess."

Hermione was sitting next to Harry and Ron and took that moment to speak up.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah. It's complicated." She put the knife back in her pocket.

"So, it's really him?" Ron asked, "That's...blimey. How?"

"Magic." Faith waved her hands in the air dramatically and snorted at her own little joke.

Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny and the twins didn't see the humor however and still looked at her expectantly.

She saw this and shrugged, "The simple version? There's these powerful beings out there and they sent him back."

"Just like that? What are these beings called? If they are powerful enough to bring someone back to life, why don't they stop the Dark Lord themselves?" Hermione inquired.

"They are called the Powers that Be…and who the hell am I? Their P.R. guy? I don't know why the hell to do anything." Faith lay back down on the couch.

"Then who are you? Are you a witch? I couldn't help but notice that I didn't see you carrying any wand…and you have that knife and your clothing is clearly muggle…" Hermione looked the woman over.

"I get it…you're the smart one, the Willow." Faith gestured to Harry, "Boy's got his own little Scooby gang." She pointed at Ron, "I guess you're the goofy one, the one they takes for granted. The one they don't really appreciate…"

"Hey!" Ron defended heatedly.

"I'll take that as a yes."

She looked him over, "You actually remind me of Xander. Except for the hair. If you were a little older…" she winked at him, "I'm always looking for a good rough and tumble."

Ron blushed as red as his hair and avoided the looks his brothers were giving him. Hermione clenched her jaw at Faith's forwardness with Ron. She was obviously jealous. Harry wished to two of them would just get together already; the constant sexual tension between Hermione and Ron was a bit trying after a while.

"You didn't answer Hermione's question. Are you a witch?" Harry asked flatly.

"I don't actually know. Might be. Parents were. But, I'm not trained and I never tried any spells. I tend to go for the hands on approach." She held out her hands in a strangling motion.

"You didn't go to a wizarding school in the States?" Hermione was astonished.

"No…I didn't even make it through regular school. Really not my thing."

Hermione appeared as though she had just heard the most absurd thing in her entire life.

"So why are you here?" Harry was curious about this woman.

There was just something about her. And he didn't think it was good.

"I'm the Slayer."

None of them except Hermione had any idea what that meant. That was usually how most things seemed to work out.

"The vampire Slayer? The Chosen one? That legend is real?"

Chosen one? That caught Harry's interest.

Moody grunted from the doorway, "One girl all the world, chosen to stand up against the vampires and forces of darkness…."

Mad Eye directed both of his eyes toward Faith, watching her carefully.

"There's been a few 'amendments' on that little speech…but yeah. Me Slayer. Me slay things."

"Amendments?" Moody repeated quizzically.

"Yes. Now there's a bunch of us."

Hermione frowned, "How could it just change? That doesn't make sense…"

"Look. As much as I love playing Faith: _The Smoking Hot School Teacher_… can you just stop with all the questions? You're giving me a damn headache."

Hermione huffed dissatisfied with Faith refusal to answer her questions.

"You can't just not tell us. We deserve to know." Hermione sulked.

"I live to disappoint."

There was a flash from the fireplace and a disheveled Remus Lupin rushed out from the smoke. He looked even more worn out and frazzled than usual.

"Where is he?" He searched the room frantic. Apparently he had heard about Sirius's return.

"He's outside." Mad Eye said.

Remus rushed toward the door, but flinched as he passed by Faith. He visibly bristled and stared at her almost growling.

She just stared back at him, her face impassive.

"Problem?"

"I don't know. I just…felt something, and at first I thought you were someone else…", he looked genuinely confused.

Faith looked as though she'd figured something out and nodded with a smirk.

"Oh right. I get it. You're the werewolf."

Lupin was taken aback, "How could you know that?"

"I could tell something with you was…'off' and Sirius told me that his friend Remus was a werewolf. Put two and two together. And people think I'm no good at math!"

She sat upright and continued, "He was worried what my stance was on slaying werewolves."

All of them started to go for their wands and she held up her hands defensively.

"And, I told him I had no problem with them. Geez! You people need to learn to calm down!"

Remus was unsure what to do but finally just went outside to see his friend. The group sat staring at each other for a long while, none of them saying anything. This seemed to suit Faith just fine and she continued to clean her fingernails with the knife.

"You will NOT speak to me in such a manner!" A voice bellowed from the other room.

The blond girl that had arrived with Faith came practically flying out from the other room and fell over top of Fred and George who attempted to catch her but only succeeded in getting knocked off their feet.

She quickly untangled herself from the twins and headed back toward the direction she'd been thrown from.

"You BITCH!"

She readied herself and tore off the tattered robe she was wearing revealing muggle clothing beneath.

Winifred or Illyria, Harry wasn't completely sure of her name anymore, came stomping into the room.

"That petulant child dared insult me! I must teach her a lesson." She bellowed and began to change shape.

Her clothing melted into a tight fully body leather outfit, and her skin and hair were streaked with blue. What the hell was she? Harry didn't think she was a Metamorphmagus. It seemed likely that she wasn't human as she'd previously expressed disgust for them.

Mad Eye focused all of his attention on the blue woman his wand drawn and the rest of them readied for a possible confrontation. Faith quickly leapt to her feet getting between the younger girl and Illyria.

"Hey now! Let's not have a throw down in this nice little home! We don't want to ruin anything, now do we?"

"I care not of our location. This adolescent questioned my abilities because I failed to keep Sirius Black at Grimmauld Place. I am Illyria! I will not be undermined by an insignificant such as this young Slayer."

The blond bristled and attempted to push past Faith, but she held her back. Faith seated the girl roughly down on the couch.

"Raven, why don't you make some new friends, yeah? This is Harry Potter and this is…" Faith looked at Hermione, then Ron, the twins and then Ginny.

"Actually I don't know any of the rest of their names…but hey! Maybe you could find out and report back, you know?"

Then Faith went to lead Illyria out of the room, "Don't worry about it Illyria, I'll be sure to give her a 'sound thrashing' later."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yeah. I'll rip her a new one. Promise." She assured the creature insincerely as they walked out of the room leaving the girl behind.

She just sat there sulking on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest.

"So you're a Slayer too?" Hermione asked as friendly as she could manage.

"Yeah. My name's Raven McNamara."

"Well, I'm Hermione Granger, this is Harry Potter, then Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George Weasley." She introduced everyone.

Raven took notice of all the redheads, "Are all of you siblings?"

They nodded and Ron added, "We also have three older brothers, Charlie, Bill, and Percy."

She snickered at that and smiled.

"Someone needs to tell your mom that it's a Vagina. Not a Clown Car."

Ron reddened once again and Ginny's eyes widened nearly two sizes.

The twins, however, found the comment absolutely hilarious and fell over themselves laughing. Harry and Hermione tried to hold back from laughing as well. Harry was surprised that the Weasleys knew what a clown car was…maybe they had gone to a muggle circus with their dad.

Molly walked in from outside with Sirius, Dumbledore, Snape, Remus, and her husband and saw the twins laughing.

"What's so funny dears?"

"Nothing!" They replied simultaneously.

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"So where are we going?" Faith ran after Severus Snape as he continued a steady pace through Diagon Alley. Dumbledore had asked her to go with him from the Burrow and meet them back at Grimmauld Place after they had finished.

"Dumbledore seems to think you are in fact a witch on top of your other 'abilities'. He asked me to take you to get a wand."

Faith stopped dead in the street. When Snape finally noticed she was not in step behind him, he turned to see a rather panicked expression plastered on her face.

"I don't really think that's a good idea. Me getting a wand."

"And why's that?"

She fidgeted for a few moments and looked to see if anyone was watching them.

"I don't think giving me more power is really the wisest thing in the world." She inched closer and whispered.

"I managed to screw up just being the Slayer…I did some things I'm not exactly proud of. I'm not going to tell you any specifics- cause hey, news flash! I don't like you…but…"

She crossed her arms protectively, "But if I start being a witch? I think I may give Darth Willow a run for her money."

Severus folded his arms placing his hands into the openings of his robe sleeves. This girl was a rather large annoyance to him and he still did not trust her as far as a goblin could throw her. But, he was curious what exactly she had done and just what she was so scared of.

Having too much power certainly wasn't something her mother and father would have a problem with. In fact they would seek it rather than shy away from it. That was quite interesting to him.

"Darth Willow? I am afraid I'm not familiar."

"Friend of mine…well friend is probably pushing it. Her name's Willow Rosenburg, she's a wiccan witch. She got a little too deep in dark magic and went a little nuts for a while."

Severus sighed, "I doubt a wandless witch would be much of a threat. Theirs is a muted magic. All chanting and herb burning. Hardly anything you could consider dangerous."

Faith scoffed, "Yeah, totally harmless. I think maybe I should introduce you and you could tell that to her yourself…I would just love to see her wipe the floor with you."

Snape just let the matter drop. It was mindless posturing on her part and he would not indulge her. It was unlikely a wiccan would have the power to 'wipe the floor' with even most inept wand wizard.

"While I understand your concern… to a point, I think it is even more unwise to let the magic within you remain untrained. It will build and fester within you and that is even more dangerous."

"Fester, huh? We can't have that."

"No. Now if you would please follow me to Ollivander's, I prefer not to dilly dally in the streets."

"Did you just say 'dilly dally'?"

She snorted and puffed out her chest haughtily and faked a British accent, "Yes, verily I think that idea is the bee's knees."

Snape growled and walked off to the wand shop and Faith ran after.

"Dumbledore set up an account for you at Gringotts and you can transfer your money to it at your convenience. In the mean time Professor Dumbledore offered to pay for your wand." He raised a bag of coins from his pocket.

"Oh, I like it when old men spoil me."

She winked playfully and Severus tried his best to ignore her. "Of course," Her smile faded slightly, "The last old man that spoiled me got blown up."

She was silent for a moment, "So maybe I'll just pay him back later…"

This girl was shaping up to have even more issues than Severus himself. And that was really saying something.

"If that is your wish, I could care less." He dropped the pouch of money in her hand.

They stopped in front of a small shabby looking store with a window display of only of a single wand resting on a dusty old purple pillow. Severus led her inside.

While Ollivander searched for a wand to suit her, the old wandmaker seemed to know more than he let on about the girl- both in who and what she was.

The trip had proven one thing. The girl had magical power, but it was wild and erratic. She had nearly set Snape's hair on fire with the first wand and then blew a hole in the through the checkout counter with the second.

She would be quite difficult to train. And Severus had no doubt Dumbledore would place some of that daunting task on him.

Damn him.

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"Ah. How about you go ahead and try this one my dear. Walnut, 12 ¼ , sturdy but surprisingly lithe, a single hair from the mane of a Thestral. Not many wands with Thestral hair, very unique."

Ollivander placed the wand in her hand carefully and stepped back.

Faith eyed the wand cautiously before she finally swished it in the air. Her hair was blown about her like a small gust of wind had come up beneath her. She let out the large breath she had been holding.

"Yes. I do believe we've found your wand."

She paid the man while staring at the wand rested lightly in her palm. They exited the shop in silence when she finally spoke.

"I'm a witch. A freakin' witch… this is such a trip. I'm finally going to have something the amazing Buffy Anne Summers doesn't…"

She chuckled lightly, but still looked incredibly sad.

Severus didn't reply to the comment, probably because he didn't care who Buffy was. That was fine with her. It was nice to be around people who didn't know a thing about the blond slayer.

Faith and Snape walked a few steps out of the shop.

She decided to place the wand in her pocket but she kept her hand protectively wrapped around it. It felt like hers. Just like the Scythe had, but that had inevitably been Buffy's.

But not this time. This was hers.

"Severus?" A voice asked on their left. A tall thin blond older woman approached the two of them.

"Hello Narcissa."

Faith blanched beside Severus when he greeted her.

_Dear, quit your running around or you'll hurt yourself! I swear you have more energy than a Cornish pixie! Bella wanted me to watch you for the weekend and I intend to return you to my sister in one piece! If you're a good girl, Auntie Cissy will take you out for some ice cream. How's that sound?_

"Cissy?" She whispered name escaped her mouth.

Severus heard her words and gave her a warning look. Narcissa looked her over, caught between a possibly inquisitive and harsh expression.

Then the older woman noticed Faith's attire and the somewhat interested look disappeared completely. It was apparent that she didn't approve of muggle fashion.

"Who is this Severus?" The disgust rolled off her tongue.

This wasn't the same voice that Faith had pulled from the recesses of her mind…this one was laced with hate.

Had that memory been real? She tried to shake off her unease. Snape started to reply to the woman but Faith placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"Oh hi! I'm Faith!" She held out her hand but the woman didn't take it, Faith ignored the fact and kept talking.

"Me and Sev just got back from the Leaky Cauldron. Me and him rented a room there. And let me tell you! He may look like he doesn't know the first thing about screwing…but he's like a wild cat in the sack!"

Severus clenched his fist so tight Faith thought it may have drawn blood. He glared at her with an unfettered rage, but she ignored this just as readily as Narcissa's hateful demeanor.

"Well I'm gonna go get some Ice Cream at that parlor I saw around the way. Sev here got me so hot and bothered I need something to cool me down!" She licked her lips at him lustfully swaying her hips.

Snape looked like he was ready to shit bricks.

She turned to walk away, "I'll let you two catch up on…whatever." Faith pointed at Severus with both hands, "Don't keep me waiting too long Severus. I've got needs you know! I may just have to snag some hapless wizard up off the street! Or a witch...I'm flexible."

Narcissa watched her walk off wide eyed. She turned back to Severus.

"You certainly keep interesting company, Severus."

"That's one way of putting it." Snape replied to her flatly. What the hell had that girl been thinking? She was becoming more frustrating by the moment.

"Was there something you wanted to discuss with me Narcissa?"

She tensed and seemed like she was going to ask him something, but thought better of it. Severus believed it likely had to do with her son, but the encounter with Faith may have made her reconsider her judgment in confiding in him.

"No, it's…it's nothing. I'll just be going; I have some of Draco's robes to pick up at Madam Malkins."

Narcissa Malfoy quickly walked off leaving Severus standing between the Magical Menagerie and Gambol & Japes.

Bollocks.

Snape made his way toward Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor after the girl. He needed to have a word with Miss Faith Lehane.

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;p


	14. Evil is Relative

**Disclaimer: Don't sure. Not mine.**

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_That is what you learn when you become a king. You learn to destroy everything that's not utterly yours. All that matters is victory. That's how your reign persists. You're a slave to an insane construct. You are moral. A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale. But you... trapped in the web of the Wolf, the Ram, the Hart. So much power here, and you quibble at its price. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition.  
-Illyria, Season 5: Timebomb_

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"I don't believe it! Sirius! You're alive!" Nymphadora Tonks shouted as she came through the door of Grimmauld Place. She ran into the arms of her cousin.

Her hair wasn't its usual bubble-gum pink shade, but a dull light brown. But, upon hugging Sirius it brightened a little. The noise Tonks created inevitably led Walburga's portrait to begin howling.

"Nice job." Spike commented, putting his hands over his ears. The vampire smacked the portrait right over her face. This only made her yell louder.

Alastor Moody pulled the curtain roughly over the portrait muffling her screams.

"It's good to see you Tonks." Sirius released his favorite cousin's daughter.

"Good Nymphadora, you're here." Albus ushered her and the rest of them down into the kitchen, where most of the Order of the Phoenix was seated.

Spike took a seat at the far end of the kitchen and propped his legs up on the table. His feet landed right in front of Minerva McGonagall's folded hands. She gave him a stern look from above of her square spectacles. He just shrugged giving her an expression that said: 'what did I do?'

Illyria came to stand behind the vampire, but turned her attention to something on the wall that only she could see.

Tonks took the open seat across the table from Remus, but both of them avoided looking at each other.

Dumbledore sat at the very front of the long table. Molly was weaving around those seated at the table cooking in a frenzy because it was the only way she knew to calm her thoughts.

"I asked you all here for one very obvious reason."

He placed a hand on Sirius Black's shoulder who was seated next to him, "Our friend has returned to us."

There were smiles and grins on the faces of all those at the table. Except for Spike, who just looked bored. And Illyria - who was ignoring them entirely.

"But, what I also wish to discuss with you is the circumstances surrounding Sirius's return."

"Does it have to do with them?" Minerva indicated Spike, Illyria, and then Raven; who was trying to help Molly with cooking but was finding it hard to keep up with Mrs. Weasley's magical cooking style.

"No, but it does have to do with a person. Someone that these three are acquainted with." Albus told her.

"That woman we met at the Burrow?" Lupin wondered aloud, "Faith?"

"She told Harry she was a Slayer." Alastor said after Remus, "and that there were more than one of them. Including this young girl here."

Raven turned from cutting some onions to smile proudly at all of them.

They had left the children back at the Burrow and were being watched by Dedalus Diggle and Charlie Weasley

"A Slayer?" Kingsley Shaklebolt repeated incredulously.

"A Slayer?" Spike repeated mockingly.

"Yes. It is about Faith." Dumbledore answered Remus.

"Are you planning on telling them?" Sirius was worried about the outcome of revealing Faith's identity, "I don't think…"

Albus stopped him.

"I think it best to tell them now, so that we can avoid any repercussions should they not be told later."

"She's gonna pissed that your off telling every Dick and Jane you come across." Spike added.

"These people are my most trusted allies William," Spike's eyes bulged at the use of his real name.

"They need to be told."

"What is it?" Bill Weasley asked impatiently. His fiancé Fleur Delacour holding his hand looked equally impatient to discover the secret.

Albus sighed, "What Faith told Harry and the other children is true. She is a Slayer, but she is also something else."

Sirius stiffened because he knew what was coming. He knew how he would take the news, so Merlin knew how they were going to take it.

"Her real name is Eris Lestrange. She is the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus."

The room exploded into shouts of disbelief and anger.

"And you just let her come into my home Dumbledore? She was sitting in my house! With my children! With Harry!" Arthur fumed at the older man. Molly came up behind him, her face etched in concern.

"She's not like that! Faith's not her mother. If she was, do you think I would trust her?" Sirius tried to reason with them.

"That's a good point." Nymphadora laughed lightly, but she still looked apprehensive about the prospect of the Order working with her aunt's daughter.

Remus stole a glance her way then immediately looked back to Dumbledore when she noticed. Tonk's hair darkened and she became noticeably dejected.

"No offense Sirius, but your judgment is not exactly perfect…and how can we even be sure you are Sirius Black and not some impostor?" Moody questioned.

Mad Eye would know better than most about that, considering Barty Crouch Jr. pretended to be him for the nearly a year.

"I can most profoundly assure you Alastor- he is Sirius Black. There is not a doubt in my mind." Albus told him.

"For one, he knows things only Sirius himself would know. Also, Severus performed a few tests to prove his identity including a strong veritaserum."

"Yeah, and he wasn't exactly gentle." Sirius scowled.

"How do we know we can trust this girl?" Kingsley straightened in his chair.

"What 'eef she turns out to be evil like her mother? What if she iz playing us?" Fleur asked.

Illyria scoffed from behind Spike causing everyone to look in her direction.

"Evil? There is no such thing. You cling to the nonexistent."

"Leery, I don't think now is exactly the best time for one of your patented 'ignorant muck' speeches…" Spike stated uncomfortably.

"Sirius, if these friends of hers are anything to go by… I don't think we should be trusting this girl." Remus stated frustratedly as he glared across the table at Spike and Illyria.

"Oy! I'll have you know I am a very upstanding citizen!" Spike yelled at Remus, "I haven't killed anyone in years!" He stopped and considered for a moment, "Well… except the time I went mental whenever I heard this song me mum used to sing to me when I was a boy…"

All of them just stared.

Raven chuckled uncomfortably and attempted to break the tension.

"Well if it's any conciliation…I've never killed anyone."

"What did you mean that there's no such thing as evil?" Tonks looked to Illyria skeptically.

The Old One's eyes drew away from Spike to find Nymphadora's.

"No being is cruel merely for the sake of being so. They are as such because it serves a function- fulfills a need. All that you would deem evil is simply a means to gain power. To gain power over a single individual- Or many. Power is all. Those you think evil are simply the only ones of your pathetic race wise enough to seek it."

Illyria looked at all of them disgusted, "You seek to be good and moral. Those who hold themselves to such constructs are weak. They are weak because they lack the ability to take such power or they are simply ignorant of its necessity."

Raven rolled her eyes, "God Illyria. You sure are long winded."

"You will cease speaking to me as if we are equals. I hold you in as much esteem as an ant before my boot heel."

Sirius rubbed his temple. This was going even worse than he'd anticipated.

"You know Shiva, I think you're all talk. You say being good is stupid, but then here you are helping us morons out." Spike smirked smugly.

"Yes. You are correct." Illyia scowled, "I am a shadow of my former self. Those I may have considered my peers would destroy me without pause. It is a culmination of the failings inherent in this form. Winifred Burkle's body could not contain my power…and I suspect the soul of the Burkle persona has remained. It may not have been destroyed in the fires of my Resurrection."

Everyone except Spike, Raven, and Sirius, took in her words with an obvious sense of confusion. Albus Dumbledore was watching the Old One very carefully.

"So you are saying Fred's in there somewhere?" Spike looked hopeful.

"No."

Spike's face fell.

"Winifred Burkle can not come back half-breed. However the original Illyria is lost as well. I believe I am an entirely new entity. An amalgamation of the two." Illyria looked troubled.

"What the bloody hell are they talking about?" Bill received a reprimanding glance from his mother for swearing.

"Illyria here is an Old One." Spike told him.

"An Old One? What is zat?" Fleur asked.

"We ruled this world a great many millennia before the minor apes from which you evolved even came to be. We were gods with armies abounding. With power beyond your comprehension."

"Blue's a pure-blood demon, what all the vampires, demons, and some other creatures come from. The Old Ones left this dimension or were killed after a time. The ones that were killed were bound in stone sarcophagi now located in a place called the Deeper Well." Spike explained.

This conversation was making many of them understandably uncomfortable.

Mundungus Fletcher, for instance, had been inching farther and farther from Illyria with every word she spoke. It was all a bit overwhelming to be sure. They were a sitting at a table with an ancient god.

If they weren't intimidated they were daft in the head.

"Yes. I suppose that makes sense. There are some less well known texts which tell of a past much like the one Illyria describes. But the wizarding world I'm afraid is a bit lacking in our histories. We are sadly just as ignorant, if not more so, than the muggles when it comes to the world before our own."

"There are very few of your species which would admit their own ignorance. Yet you do so freely. This leads me to believe you are among the wiser of your kind…."

Dumbledore's smiled, "I'm flattered you think so."

"That wasn't a compliment. Merely an observation. You are among the wisest of a group of apes…that is hardly a status deserving of pride."

Spike laughed.

Sirius noticed that Illyria's eyes seemed to lighten at Spike's reaction and her lips seemed to curl into what may have been a smile.

"So how did Illyria get out of this Deeper Well thing?" Tonks thought allowed.

"There are still some worshipers of Big Blue running around, they snuck her sarcophagus out of the Deeper Well and had it brought to Wolfram & Hart in Los Angeles, California where the host they'd chosen my friend, Fred. She touched it and she got infected…"

"Wolfram & Hart…I have heard of them. They have a branch located in Knockturn Alley, I think. The Ministry has dealt with them a few times with some incidents involving muggles, but mostly they stick their nose in Ministry dealings with dark creatures like vampires, banshees, hags, and the like. I think they even came to the defense of a Red Cap who bludgeoned a child to death…if you can believe that."

"Yeah that sounds like them..." Spike crossed his arms, "Those wankers."

"I have a question." Alastor's blue eye cycled from Illyria, Spike, Raven and back to Illyria.

"Why do you align yourself with a being that destroyed your friend? Shouldn't you be trying to kill her?"

Spike looked offended, "We tried to get Fred back! We did! I didn't know her long but she was a fantastic girl: smart, funny, beautiful….But the only way we could bring her back would have killed thousands. She wouldn't have wanted that."

"But you choose to associate with her killer." Mad Eye reprimanded.

"Blue wasn't her killer. Not really. It was the one's that brought the sarcophagus to Fred in the first place. And believe you me they got what was coming to 'em! Illyria had no control over who she infected anymore than a virus would. Doesn't mean I don't hate seeing her in that body everyday. But Illyria is useful to keep around."

"I am a **God!** It is **I** who keep **YOU** around! You would do well to remember it."

Mundungus nearly fell out of his seat and the others stiffened at Illyria's outburst, but Spike smirked unaffected by Illyria's anger.

"Ha! Pull the other one!" Spike scoffed.

There was a scuffling noise and shouting coming from upstairs which distracted everyone from the conversation.

"Dammit Sev! You made me drop my ice cream! You could have at least warned me we were going to do that teleport thing!" Faith's voice traveled down the stairs.

Tonks paled, "Is that her?"

Spike smiled. "Yeah, don't worry too much about Faith. I mean she won't hurt you... unless you piss her off…then well I suppose all bet's are off."

That sentiment certainly didn't help Nymphadora's worries.

Severus Snape came down the steps first. He looked angrier than usual and was trying to distance himself from Faith who was coming down the steps behind him.

Faith was inspecting the malformed ice cream cone she was holding in her hand as she came into view.

"Ew! There's a hair in it!"

She scrunched her nose and took the cone over to the trash can and dropped it in. She turned to see Raven standing at the kitchen counter. The younger Slayer looked worried.

"What?"

The majority of the people sitting at the table were looking at her like she had some contagious disease. The woman with the heart shaped face looked troubled by Faith's arrival and quite uncomfortable about the whole situation.

"Shit."

Faith put her hands on her hips and looked at Dumbledore accusingly.

"You told them didn't you?"

"He did, firecracker." Spike said at the other end of the table.

Faith gave him a dirty look for the nickname.

"You know, its one thing if you hate me because of something I actually did! I'm used to that. Like Sev here- he has every right to hate me! Considering I just told my aunt Narcissa that me and him were screwing like rabbits!"

Tonk's jaw dropped at her words and a snort escaped Sirius before he could stop himself. Snape's face was priceless.

"But it really pisses me off when you hate me for something I have no control over! My parents are A-holes! I get it! Sirius has shoved that little piece of info down my throat ever since I met him a week ago!"

Now Sirius looked abashed.

Spike could be heard whispering something to the heart-shaped face woman about "bet's being off" and "shit hitting a fan" or something, but Faith ignored him and continued.

"So you know what? If you don't like me…you can **blow it out your ass!**"

She pounded the table with her fist making everyone jump, which she followed up by giving them all the finger.

"Thanks for the wand by the way Double-D." She patted her pocket. "I'll pay you back later. And when all of you are done talking about me, I'll be upstairs…" Faith turned to leave.

"I don't know- maybe I'll be torturing puppies or maiming kittens- I have my parent's legacy to live up to after all!"

The members of the Order of the Phoenix watched on as Faith stormed up the stairs.

"Well... I think that went well." Sirius stated to no one in particular.

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_reviews are awesome!_


	15. Lost & Found

**Disclaimer: I'm not making any money from this. The characters, except OCs, are not mine.**

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_Now here you go again  
You say you want your freedom  
Well who am I to keep you down  
It's only right that you should  
Play the way you feel it  
But listen carefully to the sound  
Of your loneliness  
Like a heartbeat...drives you mad  
In the stillness of remembering what you had  
And what you lost..._

_-"Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac_

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Faith sat in her room. She could have handled that better.  
Should have handled that better.

Faith needed these people to trust her and giving them the finger and telling them to blow themselves wasn't exactly the ideal start on that path.

But they had all been looking at her like….Hell, just like everyone always looked at her.

They didn't even know her!

She punched the mattress beneath her. The bed creaked in protest.

Faith hadn't expected a warm welcome. In truth, she hadn't expected anything.

But she had at least thought it would be better than the whispers and looks she got from the Scoobies, Watchers, and Slayers when they thought that she wasn't looking.

And even when they knew she was.

Spike was right, it was easier being evil. But, if she went back to that she would never be able to forgive herself.

The door creaked open disturbing her thoughts.

Kreacher was standing behind it expectantly.

"Miss Eris?"

Faith didn't bother to correct him, and tell him to call her Faith. She had told him several times already, but he still refused to call her by her 'dirty muggle name'.

"Come in Kreacher." The old house-elf hobbled happily into the room, "Was there something you wanted?"

He came up to the foot of the bed. Faith had taken Walburga's old room upon moving into the house. Kreacher had cleaned it with a fervor Sirius didn't think Kreacher still possessed.

Faith knew better.

Sirius didn't respect the house-elf, so why should Kreacher respect him? Faith liked the little guy, so he liked her. Even if Kreacher did disapprove of her 'muggle' ways.

She was going to have to make sure Sirius treated him better.

Kreacher held something out toward Faith. It was a square-ish object wrapped up in a dirty cloth.

"Kreacher thought Miss Eris would want this. Master tried to destroy everything of my Mistress's. And that terrible Mundungus Fletcher steals anything he gets his hands on…but Kreacher hides what he can."

Faith took the wrapped object from Kreacher.

She unfolded the cloth revealing the back of a picture frame. Faith turned it around and her breath caught in her throat.

She'd seen the moving pictures hanging all around Grimmauld Place. Faith had been avoiding Walburga's just because of the wicked creepiness of talking to a dead woman that had known Faith when she was still little Eris Lestrange.

Faith had also started to steer clear of Phineas Black's portrait after he had suggested she marry Sirius.

So that they could bear children and continue the Black family line…

Faith shuddered.

But this was a different type of picture than those other ones. It was almost like a repeating video clip playing a moment in time over and over again.

It was her mother. Faith recognized her immediately.

She didn't look evil. She looked… happy.

Her mom was playing with a small brunette child in a field- or possibly a backyard. It looked like summer. The girl ran and Bellatrix chased after. They both fell to the grass and were laughing. Her mother gave the girl, which Faith knew was herself, a large hug and a kiss on her forehead as they looked toward where the picture was being taken. Then it started over.

"Does Eris like it?"

Faith was engrossed with the picture. She rubbed her fore thumb over the image of her mother. She knew that smile.

Faith felt like she had always known it.

She had been seeing it in her dreams for days….and some guy with a penchant for cheese slices.

Who knew what the hell that was about…

She wished she could remember her past. Faith had been seeing glimpses, but nothing substantial.

"Yes…. thank you Kreacher. I…I like it very much."

The house-elf smiled and nodded before walking out of the room.

Faith stared at the picture for a time committing the images to memory. She turned to her nightstand and placed the picture down gently next to her bed and continued to watch it silently.

"Well Faith, you sure do know how to make a first impression."

She turned to see Albus Dumbledore at the doorway.

"I must say that I am relieved to see that you don't have any puppies or kittens up here with you." His eyes twinkled.

"Nah. I leave my animal torture for later, right before bedtime."

"So, Severus tells me you acted quite inappropriately in front of Narcissa Malfoy." Albus stepped into the room shutting the door behind him.

"Oh yeah, that."

She tried to dismiss it. "He's got something so thoroughly jammed up his ass. I just wanted to see if I could loosen it a little…although I think I only managed to shove it up further."

Faith shrugged, "Plus it was funny.'

"Be that as it may, I think it may be best if you keep a lower profile and draw less attention to yourself in the future. You may draw the wrong sorts of attention."

"But that's the best kind, Double-D." She winked.

Dumbledore summoned the chair from the corner with his wand and sat down in front of her.

"Tell me Faith. What are your plans here? What is it you hope to accomplish?" He stared at her in a way that made her squirm.

"I already told you didn't I? I came to stop Voldemort and because Sirius said that I was needed here…"

"Faith, you know that's not what I meant." Dumbledore looked very stern.

"No, I don't know what you meant. God, I hate cryptic bullshit. If you want me to answer a god-damn question don't beat around the bush! Just spit it out." She huffed.

"What do you think will happen with you and your parents? I want to make sure you're not going into this with any idealized notions of your parents choosing you over Voldemort…"

Faith laughed painfully.

"Idealized notions? Fuck. I can hope can't I? That's all I have anymore. But if it makes you feel any better I've come to always expect the worst. That way I can never be disappointed when it all goes to shit."

Her eyes flitted over to the picture frame and her mom's eyes seemed to stare right back. Bella swung little Eris around and they laughed.

"Is it so wrong to hold out hope that I could be happy?"

Dumbledore looked sympathetic, "No, not at all. I just don't want you to get yourself hurt. Bellatrix and Rodolphus are Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. They freely admitted to the crimes the Ministry sentenced them to Azkaban for. Their loyalty never wavered. If Voldemort targets you, I don't know that they would stop him from harming you."

Faith grabbed the picture frame off the table as she got up and walked over to the window next to her bed.

"Do you have any children, Double-D?"

"No. I do not." Dumbledore responded his voice calm.

Faith clutched the picture against her breast as she leaned her head against the window pane.

"I don't want any. Never occurred to me that I ever would. They're small, annoying, and well… pregnancy sounds like a bitch."

Faith saw a couple pushing a stroller with little boy on the sidewalk outside. The boy was wiggling his tiny arms at a squirrel across the street.

"But if I did- You bet your ass I wouldn't let anything happen to them. If anyone laid a finger on my kid…" She paused for a second.

"I would kill 'em."

Her voice was frighteningly resolute.

Faith glanced back down at the picture again before tossing it on the bed, "Even if it was my best friend. They threaten my kid. I threaten their life."

Dumbledore looked the picture on the bed and then back to Faith.

"Faith, I'm not saying your parents don't love you."

"Well, it sure as hell sounds like it."

Faith drew her eyes away from him and back out the window. She watched as the couple and stroller turned right on to another street, and out of sight.

"I can't say what they would do once they find out about you Faith." Dumbledore paused for a second before continuing, "As much as others may believe about me…I let you onto a little secret: I am not omnipotent. Bellatrix and Rodolphus may love you more than life itself. They may not. I don't know. I can only judge them by the actions I have observed. And they've shown an unyielding allegiance to Voldemort and to ensuring the destruction of the non-magical world."

"Destruction of the non-magical world, huh? Yeah, cause that sounds like a real tragedy." Faith sighed and sat back on the bed facing away from Dumbledore her hands folded in her lap.

"I mean sure, I've been fighting to protect those ignorant son's a bitches for years- I told you it's what we Slayers do… but more and more I ask myself…what the hell for? What have they ever done for me? For the other girls? I've saved their asses more times than I can count. But will I ever get thanked for it? No. Cause they can't see the evil and mayhem right in front of their stupid faces, let alone thank the people protecting them from it. Their perfectly content to ignore what's going on around them. Sometimes I think…maybe we should just stop trying to save them…maybe they don't deserve it. All they've ever given me is pain…why do they deserve to be saved?"

Faith looked up to see that Dumbledore was now standing right front of her. She hadn't even heard him move.

Impressive for an old man.

"I'm going to tell you something that I haven't spoken of in many years. Something that not many people know about me. I'm going to tell you it…because I think you need to hear it."

"Okay Albs. Shoot."

His eyes lost their shine as he spoke.

"When I was a young man I thought much the same way. I felt as though wizards were better than the muggles. I did not care for them much; for reasons I'd rather not speak of. I thought that wizards aught to take their rightful place above them…that we were better."

"Sounds to me like the younger you had it about right." Faith commented off-handedly.

"No, I learned a very hard lesson when I was younger. One that haunts me to this day. We are not better. If anything we must remain humble about our power, lest we become the worst type of person there is. Each society and culture has their bad apples, their ignorant few- but it is crucial that we look after the majority- those that are decent loving people, with families, friends- those that would thank you and love you for protecting them if they knew what you do for them every day."

"I suppose you know what you're talking about. I mean what the hell do I know? But, when I think of everything that's happened to me- how my life has gone, I can't remember ever being loved by anyone…"

There was Wilkins, but Faith thought it best not to discuss that with him. She wasn't going to be discussing that with anyone anytime soon.

"Not by any of the regular people…by muggles. Not by the not so regular people either. But here's the thing…even though I can't remember anything but a few flashes and feelings when it comes to my real parents…I can remember being loved. I had a few people in my life that came close to it- But nothing like I know I had with **her.**" She pointed at the picture.

"I can't pretend I don't want that back."

"I understand Faith. Just promise me you'll be careful." Dumbledore eyes stared at her from over his moon-shaped spectacles.

Faith looked at him uncomfortably.

"Yeah. Sure you bet. I'll be as careful as…ya know…someone careful."

Faith put the picture back on the nightstand.

Dumbledore nodded, "Good. There is something else. Severus told me you acted strangely when you learned about the prospect of you being a witch- that you expressed a fear about having too much power. You indicated that you had done something you weren't proud of. I was wondering if you could enlighten me."

"What, Sirius didn't tell you?" Faith looked surprised.

"He did not. I did ask. But he stated it was your story to tell- not his."

"Yeah, definitely." Faith eyed the doorway, "Can you, uh, put up one of those silencing spells…This isn't something I want others to know. They hate me enough as it is."

Dumbledore obliged.

Faith didn't know why she was about to tell this guy all her secrets. It was probably a stupid move, but there was something about the old man that made her trust him.

Maybe it was that wise Merlin vibe he had going for him.

"I was called when I was 17. A little late for a Slayer, most get chosen when they are about 15 or so, but its not unheard of…this was back before there were a bunch of Slayers like there are now. But, I wasn't the only one. There was another before me, Buffy Summers, she died for like a minute- but she was revived. But it was enough for another slayer to get called."

"You."

"No. Her name was Kendra. She only lasted a year. Coincidentally it was Spike's sire that killed her… small world, huh?"

Faith joked weakly, but Albus didn't see the humor.

"Anyway, I was called. I loved being a Slayer. I was finally worth something, ya know? My first Watcher actually gave a shit if I lived or died. That was new for me. But then this vamp Kakistos killed her. Made me watch as he did it."

Faith tried not to think to long on what she was saying. She didn't want to become a blubbering mess in front of this guy.

"I went to the other Slayer. But Kakistos followed me. I staked the asshole with her help. So then I stayed with B and her watcher. Anyway…. the point to this long ass story. I was on patrol with Buffy and this guy came up behind us. I thought he was a vamp…and I killed him accidentally..."

She looked at Dumbledore trying to gauge his reaction. Faith couldn't read him at all.

"I don't know. I was young. I was stupid. I was a whole bunch of things. And all of them sound like lame excuses. But after I killed that guy, something in me snapped. I joined the big bad that we were fighting and I turned against the only people who had tried to help me. I killed again and then I nearly killed Buffy's boyfriend. She came after me. We fought and she stabbed me with my own knife." Faith lifted her shirt showing him the scar along her abdomen that had never completely gone away, despite her slayer healing.

"I fell off the building we'd been fighting on and I was in a coma for a few months. Then I woke up. I attacked B again and then her boyfriend, well ex-boy by that time. Her Ex…he was the one who finally got through to me. His name was Angel. He was a vampire."

"Angelus?" Dumbledore interrupted her.

Faith raised an eyebrow, "What? You know him?"

"By reputation only. Angelus and the rest of the Scourge of Europe are well known among the wizarding community. Spike included, although most only know him as William the Bloody."

"Yeah, guess I know all the cool vampires." Faith smirked, "Both Spike and Angelus got themselves souls. Angel got his a long time ago when he was cursed by a gypsy clan. Spike got his two years ago… and he says he doesn't want to be like Angel. Yeah, right."

"So, back to your story. What made you decide to stop?"

"I just couldn't do it anymore. I wanted Angel to kill me, but he wouldn't do it. He saved me from myself. I don't like killing or torturing people… I want to be good. I'd love to be a freakin' righteous superhero but, I'm just not a white hat. Simple as that. Much as I'd like to be. I just have to admit that to myself... I'll just have to settle with being a muddy-gray hat."

Faith drew a hand through her hair and continued her tale sadly.

"I turned myself in- went to prison. Then, I was needed. So I broke out to help stop an apocalypse… well, two actually. Year later, here I am. Still as screwed up as ever."

"I think you don't give yourself enough credit Faith."

"How so? I'm actually even** more** screwed up than ever?" Faith quipped.

"No. I think that you've made great strides. You've certainly changed enough that the Head of the Watchers Council was willing to write me a letter on your behalf."

"Giles was on my shit list, so he sort of owed me." Faith shrugged.

"Regardless, I think the sheer fact that you were willing to admit to your past shows me more than you can know." He sat on the bed beside her.

"So, how do you feel about the prospect of being trained in magic, now that you've gotten your wand?"

"Scared shitless." Faith rifled through her pocket to retrieve her wand.

"But it also feels right. Like this is what I should be doing."

"It is surprising that you haven't had any magical outbursts of power considering that you've gone on so long untrained. Perhaps it has to do with you being a Slayer. Your magical abilities may have been channeled to that instead of outletting in more hazardous ways."

She spun the wand in her fingers.

"Maybe. Beats me."

"Alright, then. You'll start your training tomorrow. I have asked Severus to coach you on some basics in the morning."

Faith glared at him, "What? You're gonna have Sev train me?"

Her brow furrowed and she grimaced at the prospect.

"Do you hate me or something? Is this like your form of torture? Look, I've already been to prison! This is just cruel and unusual!"

Dumbledore smiled, ignoring her protests, as he proceeded to walk out of the room.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going? Can't we talk about this!?"

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The moon shone bright in the night's sky, but the woods were strangely silent. Save the two forms that could be seen trudging through a thickly wooded forest.

The two brothers came out of the clearing and peered through the fog surrounding them.

There had been rain but it had subsided. The ground was still wet and sodden.

"We've found it!" Rastaban Lestrange called out to his brother off to his right who was trying to shake off the mud that had accumulated on the bottom of his robes.

Rodolphus was slightly taller than his brother. Both had dark brown hair; while Rastaban's was short and slicked back against his head, Rodolphus' fell in waves that stopped just bellow his shoulders.

A few strands of his hair blew over his eyes which Rodolphus attempted to brush behind his ear. He had been handsome once, but 15 years in Azkaban had ravaged his features. His brother hadn't fared much better.

Eventhough Rodolphus's face was worn from years of Dementor torture, he still maintained the air of sophistication and superiority common to so many pure-blood wizards; especially those who'd been in Slytherin.

"Where? I don't see anything." Rodolphus searched the forest before them.

"There."

The younger sibling pointed to a lone tree standing in the clearing that was now no longer obscured by the fog. There was a triangular opening in the trunk, just big enough for a person to fit through.

They walked up to the tree cautiously.

"Yes, I feel the power here." Rodolphus kneeled to feel the grass beneath his feet. His brother pulled out his wand.

"We must inform the Dark Lord we've located it. He will be most pleased with the news."

Rodolphus nodded to his brother as a smile crept onto his face. He seeked to get into the Dark Lord's good graces anyway he could. But, it was hard when you were constantly outshined by your own wife. After a while it became more than a little emasculating.

"Yes, the Dark Lord will be very pleased." The two disapparated from the forest to find their master.

Several demons stepped out from the tree moments after the two brothers had gone.

All of the demons were clad in armor and wielded very large swords. One of them stepped up to the patch of ground that the two wizards had disappeared from. He drew his sword and stabbed the ground.

"Shall we attempt to track them?" He spoke in a strange demon dialect.

"No."

A voice responded from behind him in English, "Increase the guards at the entrance and position your men throughout the forest."

The demons glanced back as a large leather clad man stepped forward from out of the entrance.

The man's soft gentle eyes belied his true strength.

He was a warrior and there were few who could best him in battle.

After all...they didn't call him the Groosalugg for nothing.

"They'll be back. And we will be prepared for them when they do."

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_Questions? Comments? ;)_


	16. First Learn Stand, Then Learn Fly

**Disclaimer: No sue. Please?**

**A/N: Well, this is all I have so far once I get the next chapter done I will post it here and on Twisting the Hellmouth at around the same time. **

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_Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.  
-Walter Bagehot_

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"What the hell is this?"

Faith held a book away from her with her forefinger and thumb looking at it suspiciously.

"It's called a book." Severus Snape stated as he took a seat at the writing desk, "You're meant to read it…You do know how to read don't you?"

She gave him a dirty look, "Oh. Ha. Ha."

Faith slammed the book: _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Wafflingon onto the desk in front of him and it made a loud thud. This caused a rather plump witch in the portrait on the wall to jump in surprise and the cat the witch was holding to hiss as it leapt out of her hands.

"I know what it is, smartass."

"Then why, pray tell, did you ask?" Snape pulled a scroll and a quill out of his things.

"Weeeellll...I figured since Albs said you were going to train me, that there was going to be some sort of actual training involved…Not you sitting there writing love notes to your boyfriend or whatever it is you're doing, while I sit in the corner and read a book!" She folded her arms confrontationally.

"It is important that you learn the theories of magic and its history before you learn to cast any spells. You are at a rather large disadvantage Miss Lehane. You have even less knowledge in magic than the average first year student at Hogwarts. I also suspect you have a substantial amount of uncontrolled magical power- due to your status as a Slayer. That is a dangerous combination. If you simply leapt into wand casting with out a basic knowledge of what you are doing, the results could be catastrophic."

He set down his quill and picked up the book she'd thrown on the desk. Severus then took another one from his own stack; _Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1_ by Miranda Goshawk, and dropped them both into Faith's arms. She pouted as she took hold of them.

"Have you met me Sev? Leaping into dangerous situations without thinking is basically how I live my life." Faith rolled her eyes, "Besides...planning is for pussies."

"The similarities between you and Sirius continue to astound. Perhaps you are his daughter and not the Lestranges'." Snape went back to his writing.

"Yeah, I bet Seer was macking with all the fine ass women... when he was twelve. A real pre-teen lady killer. Probably has a whole slew of illegitimate children from back then…." She peered over his shoulder, "So what are you writing anyway?"

"Dumbledore has recently offered me the position to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. If you must know, I am planning my syllabi." He seemed really proud with that declaration.

"Well, whoopty shit for you. Look, just how much am I going to have to read before you'll actually teach me how to use this?" She held out her wand up to Snape's face in a quick motion.

He eyed the wand guardedly, and pushed it to the side so that it was no longer pointed his face.

"If you read the first seven of chapters of _Magical Theory_ and up to chapter five in _The Standard Book Spells_, and you can answer all my questions on them with a relative competency… I will teach you how to do some very basic and relatively harmless spells."

Faith glowered at him, "Fine. I'll do it. But, if I'm not an uber-witch by the end of this I'm totally gonna kick your ass."

"I will keep it in mind." Severus did not look in the least bit phased by her words.

She dragged the two books over to the couch by the fireplace. She grabbed the first and opened it with a loud sigh.

Faith had gotten to about the 20th page on _Magical Theory_ after what felt like a lifetime. It was more interesting than the books she'd remembered reading during the time she'd actually stayed in high school. But, that wasn't really saying much.

It was about a whole bunch of rules and limitations of magic…which seemed kind of silly to her.

It was magic…

Didn't that mean there were no limitations?

Her eyes strayed from the book. Snape had his back to her and was scribbling away on his paper. So she took to staring at the large tapestry on the wall.

Faith had only been in this room once before and hadn't really looked at the tapestry. It was the Black Family Tree.

The top showed a coat of arms and a Latin phrase she didn't understand: _Toujours Pur_.

It went back for what appeared to be centuries and was considerably worn in places. It didn't seem like people in the Black Family lived very long. Faith wondered why that was…weren't wizards supposed to live longer than normal people?

Sirius was certainly a popular name on the tapestry, but the place where her cousin Sirius' name should have been there was a large scorch mark. There were several other burns on the tapestry, including one between her mother's name and her aunt Narcissa's. Faith surmised it was probably Andromeda.

Sirius had mentioned her other aunt briefly, saying she was one of the few nice people in the Black Family including themselves...

That was if Faith was considered nice. If she were to describe herself, the word 'nice' certainly wouldn't come up. That was for sure.

Then Faith found what she'd been looking for. There right below her mother and father's name was her own…

_Eris Lestrange 1980-1984_

"Huh."

Well, whatever spells the Watchers used when they took her…. kudos to them, cause it even fooled a magic tapestry into thinking she was dead.

"Should I take your mindless grunting to mean you are finished? Because it looks to me as though you haven't made all that much progress." Snape finished writing something before standing and coming over to check on her.

"I haven't even gotten to the 3rd chapter of _Magical Theory_ yet." Faith shrugged, "I have a major case of A.D.D. when it comes to reading books. I never did any research when I had to fight things…that's the Watcher's job anyway. I didn't care about the history and theory of the damn thing. All I needed to know was how to kill it. So, I'm sorry if I'm not Little Miss Bookworm."

Snape scowled, "Practicing magic requires understanding. It is not the same as flailing around primitive weaponry at dark creatures and throwing your weight around. You need to know what you're doing! If you are not going to take that seriously then you should not be in possession of that wand!"

"Hey! Don't yell at me asshole! I'm trying okay!" Faith shot up from the couch and got face to face with him.

Actually, it was more like face to chest.

Snape was about a foot taller that her, so she strained her neck to look him in the face. It was the first time Faith had really seen Snape up close in the light. His skin was sallow... he gave a vampire a run for their money in the lack of a tan department. His hooked nose was nearly hitting her on the forehead as her glared down at her. His black eyes were vast black pools.

"Then you should try a bit harder, Miss Lehane. I have no patience for negligence, not from my students… and certainly not from you."

Severus stared at her menacingly, which just made her giggle.

"Ha! You're funny Sev. You seriously need to lighten up." She smirked and she patted him on the shoulder.

He seemed incredibly uncomfortable with the contact and Faith noticed this immediately.

With a smirk she thought perhaps now was a good time to start a little mischief. She had to get her kicks somehow.

Faith leaned in close to him.

"I can help you with that, you know….I can help you 'lighten up.'" Faith said as she bit her bottom lip and stepped even closer to him, their torsos nearly touching.

Her hand grabbed hold of his thigh. She drew it suggestively upward, bunching the cloth of his robe.

"Or harden up… as the case may be."

Severus withdrew in an instant and his face reddened nearly five shades. Faith never thought that he would be the type to blush.

Snape could barely even speak he was so flustered by her actions. He held both hands on the writing desk behind him, almost as if to keep himself standing.

She probably shouldn't have done that... but Faith just couldn't help it, he was just so easy to rile.

I mean really, he was just bringing it on himself.

"How dare you!" Snape was finally able to yell out. "First you pulled that atrocious display in front of Narcissa Malfoy and now this! Have you no control or thought toward your actions at all!?"

Faith smiled as she fell back down on the couch and grabbed the _Magical Theory_ book and opened it up again, "Oh, you know you want it Sev. Don't even play."

"Stop calling me that!" He screamed. Faith's eyes widened at the outburst. What was this guy's problem?

"Calling you what? 'Sev'?" She questioned skeptically.

"Yes. You will address me as either Severus, or Snape."

She snorted.

"Okay, fine. Whatever you say, Snape...alicious."

Severus glared at her and preceded to storm out of the drawing room, his robes flowed menacingly behind him.

Faith's face fell as she closed the book in her hands and sat upright on the couch.

She had to have someone teach her how to do magic. Then she practically molested the guy who'd offered to help her just because she thought it might be funny...

It was funny, but that was beside the point.

Whenever things were important, she always seemed to screw them up. Maybe Sirius would teach her. Sev probably wouldn't be back for a while…he probably needed to take a week long cold shower or something.

"So... what to do now?"

After some consideration she decided that maybe the tight-ass knew what he was talking about. Faith sat down and forced herself to read the two books. There was a part of her that wanted to prove to Severus that she could do this, so he couldn't call her lazy or incompetent.

Prick.

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A group of ten or so Death Eaters stood at the foot of their Lord. Rodolphus and Rastaban were among them.

"Were you successful?" Voldemort hissed, Bellatrix stood at his side and looked down to her husband.

"Yes. But, there were casualties my Lord. Gibbon, Jugson, and several of our vampires and werewolves were taken down by the dark creatures guarding the surrounding forest of the Well. Their leader…he took out four of us and many of our vampires."

"So we have access to it?" Voldemort disregarded the deaths of his followers. He could always find more.

"Yes. My Lord."

"You have done very well Rodolphus. I will remember it."

Rodolphus shone with pride at the accolade from his master.

His brother's jaw clenched at the lack of recognition on his part in the discovery, but he dared not say anything to correct the Dark Lord, "We were able to capture their leader." Rastaban spoke.

"Ah good, and where is he?"

Fenrir Greyback pulled to the front of the other Death Eaters. He was holding a battered figure that he threw at the feet of Voldemort.

The figure was a large human male. His long hair was matted with blood. Even though he was barely conscious he still fought to stand.

"You will not…. succeed. You will…"

"Crucio."

Voldemort cursed the man and he let out a howl of pain. The man convulsed on the ground, but held back from screaming after the initial shock of the spell. The Dark Lord withdrew the Cruciatus.

"Impressive…"

He considered the man for a moment. "I wonder what type of magical being this man is…not a vampire, certainly not a werewolf," Voldemort eyed Fenrir before looking back to the man.

"Curious."

The man on the floor attempted to stand once more, but only managed to get to his knees.

"I…" his blue eyes shone bright, "I am the Groosalugg! And I have no doubt you will…fail."

Voldemort cursed him again and this time the pain was enough to make the man pass out. His head cracked solidly on the marble floor below him.

"Take him to the cellar."

Fenrir picked up the man, leaving large gashes along the man's back with his long nails, as he did so.

"Narcissa, show Fenrir to the cellar and make sure the 'Groosalugg' here is well confined. He may prove useful later."

Narcissa came to stand beside Fenrir, but tried to stay as far from the werewolf as she could. She looked at Fenrir with disgust.

"Follow me."

The two went to leave the room, but Voldemort stopped them, "And when you are done Narcissa, please bring Draco to me. I have a mission I wish to discuss with him."

Narcissa's face went ashen. She gave a terse nod before walking out the door with Fenrir Greyback.

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"I've got a love-ly bunch of coco-nuts..deedily dee..there they are…all standing in a row…."

Raven hummed absently to herself as she practiced her katas in the dining room. She'd moved the table off the side of the room to make more space to practice.

"Big ones."

Punch.

"Small ones."

Block.

"Some as big as…"

High kick.

"Your head!"

She felt a presence behind her during mid-kick. Raven's pig tails bobbed as she turned to see Nymphadora Tonks watching her.

"What is that you're doing?"

Raven relaxed from her fighting stance to give a bow to Tonks followed by a friendly smile.

"I'm doing my Shotokan katas. It's a form of karate." Raven grabbed the glass of water that was sitting on the table.

"Karate? What is that?" Tonks asked curiously.

The younger girl looked at her skeptically.

"You don't know what karate is? I mean I know you guys don't much about 'muggles', but damn. That's just sad." She shook her head and set the glass back down, "Karate is an Japanese fighting style.. a martial art?"

"Oh. Do all Slayers practice this… karate?"

"Some do. Faith does a little, but she's more a mixed martial arts kinda gal, she pretty much uses whatever works. I do that too, but I'm mostly partial to the karate. I like it. Makes me feel like Ralph Macchio from the Karate Kid."

She held her arms out like the wingspan of a bird and lifted one knee high in the air.

"First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine." She spoke in a poor excuse for a Japanese accent.

Tonks just looked at her strangely.

"Oh right. You don't even know what karate is…duh, you wouldn't have a clue about the Karate Kid…." Raven's voice trailed off. She noticed that Tonks looked pretty strung out, almost like she hadn't slept in days. Maybe she was just overwhelmed by everything that was happening.

"So, we haven't really been formerly introduced, what with all the shouting and uncomfortableness surrounding Illyria and Faith… I'm Raven McNamara." She held out a hand to her and Tonks took it.

"Nymphadora Tonks. But please don't call me Nymphadora… I hate that name…just Tonks."

"Gotcha. So you're Faith's cousin too aren't you? I think I heard Sirius mention that."

Tonks feigned a smile, "Yes. Her mother is my aunt."

"So do you know Bellatrix then? Is she really as bad as Sirius lets on?"

Raven frowned at the look Tonks was giving her.

"The last time I saw Bellatrix, she nearly killed me."

"Oh." There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a few seconds. Then Raven drew in a long breath through her teeth, making a slow hissing noise, "Awk-ward…"

There were footsteps coming from the entryway. They were fairly silent as not to wake up Walburga, but Raven and Tonks could hear them approach.

It was Sirius, Remus and Kingsley.

"Wotcher!" Tonks voice tried to sound jovial, but it sounded a little strained.

Remus fidgeted a little from beside Sirius. He said something about having to get something and walked off to the kitchen.

Raven thought that was weird… maybe it was just a werewolf thing.

The others looked pretty happy about something though. Sirius was the happiest of the lot of them.

"All charges against me have been dropped! I can go wherever I want now! Can you believe it?"

Tonks smiled, "That's great Sirius!" She hugged him.

"The Ministry had already known of Sirius's innocence after the battle in the Department of Mysteries. It was somewhat difficult convincing them that he was no longer dead... But in truth, they knew little of the nature of The Veil- so telling them someone had discovered a way to pull him out of it… seemed to satiate their curiosity for the time being." Kingsley Shaklebolt explained.

"I can't wait to tell Harry!" Sirius beamed.

A voice came from down the hall, "What's with the party in the hallway?"

Faith walked up with an open book in her hand.

"Since when do you read?" Raven questioned with a raised brow.

"Shut up slut! You better watch out or I'll punch you right in the ovaries." Faith threatened.

"Bring it. Bi-otch." Raven responded with her fists held upward.

Sirius chuckled at the two of them, by now he was used to their odd conversations.

"Faith, guess what? I've been pardoned by the Ministry!"

"That's wicked awesome Seer." Faith smiled at him she patted him on the shoulder.

Faith took notice of Tonks and Kingsley and that they still looked a little apprehensive of her, "Oh right. Sorry, about earlier… when I went off on you guys."

Kingsley was the first to respond, "That is perfectly alright Miss. I feel perhaps it is us who need to apologize to you. We've acted most inappropriately and you don't deserve the mistrust we've placed on you."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate that." She smiled.

Shaklebolt nodded and went to leave, "Well, I must be going. The Prime Minister is expecting me within the hour. I do hope to see you again soon Miss Lehane."

"You too, big guy." Faith responded and Shaklebolt left.

"Wasn't Snape supposed to be teaching you to use your wand today? He didn't skip out on you did he?" Sirius growled.

"Umm, I sort of pissed him off…and he stormed off. He never actually got around to teaching me anything…did give me these books though."

"Well, we could teach you! I mean Moony even taught at Hogwarts. I'm sure we could get you started." Sirius offered.

"I don't know. Maybe later, I think maybe I'm gonna read these books before I try anything." Faith gestured to the books in her hand.

"Hey, Faith do you want to go out on patrol tonight? I've been itching to slay something."

Faith nodded, "Yeah definitely. I've been cooped up a little too long in this house."

"I'd like to join you... if that would be alright." Sirius said excitedly.

Raven smiled and then looked over to Tonks cordially, "You wanna come too?"

"I…I don't know." Tonks fidgeted at the prospect.

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" Raven pouted.

Faith joined in, "Yeah! We'll even let you be the bait!"

Tonks paled.

"Umm, did you say…**'the bait'**?"

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_I love reviews. _


	17. Lessons

* * *

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and those who favorited this story, appreciate it!

A/N: I edited the last part of this chapter, because I felt it worked better.

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_"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."- Albus Dumbledore _

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Draco Malfoy scratched absently at the back of his forearm. He had received the Dark Mark weeks ago.

It always itched. Sometimes he wondered if the Dark Lord had made it that way on purpose just out of spite for his father's failure.

He approached the drawing room and hesitated at opening the doors. Voldemort was just behind them….

His mother came to stand next to him. She was wringing her hands and trying to stop herself from shaking.

Draco wasn't brave, and he didn't know that he ever could be. But, when he saw the fear on her mother's face, it made him desperately wish he was. He wanted to kill whoever had put that fear there….

"Mum?"

He tried to get her to look at him, but she continued to stare at the double-doors.

"You do whatever he tells you Draco and do it well…I don't…" Narcissa's voice cracked.

She clenched her jaw and Draco could see the tears starting to build in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her and tell her everything would be okay.

But he couldn't.

Because he knew it wouldn't be.

"Do your family proud son." Narcissa turned on her heels and rushed off. He watched her go.

Panic threatened to overcome him. He could talk tough at Hogwarts, but when the time came that he finally had to back up that talk... Draco didn't think he could do it.

Draco resigned to the inevitable and opened the doors.

He was surprised that his body didn't collapse upon entering the Dark Lords presence. Amazingly, he was even able to exude a bit of confidence as he stepped into the room.

Voldemort was speaking with Bellatrix quietly and she was listening attentively. The relationship between her and the Dark Lord was perplexing. It seemed she was a bit more than just loyally devoted to him….

None of the other Death Eaters dared mention it, not even Bella's own husband. But, that was because none of them were stupid.

"Draco…"

Voldemort's scarlet eyes flared and Draco felt his left arm begin to throb, "Bellatrix and I were just talking about you."

"You were…my Lord?" Draco's throat felt indescribably dry.

"Yesss." his voice hissed, "I have a mission for you."

Voldemort's unusually long fingers gripped the arms of his chair.

"During the duration of the school year, you must secure a passage for the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. We need some way to circumvent or bring down the wards surrounding the school grounds."

Well, that didn't seem so bad…I was difficult, but certainly not completely impossible. Maybe he could make it out of this thing in one piece.

"I have another task for you Draco…"

Draco's panic started to return.

"While at Hogwarts... you must find a way to kill Albus Dumbledore."

Draco felt his heart thump painfully in his chest.

Kill Dumbledore?

That was…

Crazy.

Not to mention impossible.

He was only a 16 years old! And Dumbledore was one of the most powerful wizards alive!

"I do hope that you don't have a problem with this assignment…"

A sinister smile spread over Voldemort's snake-like features, "I will not tolerate another failure from the Malfoy family. Your father failed to secure the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries and if you fail to do this as well..."

"Your mother… she may never recover."

Both Bellatrix's and Draco's eyes flashed with surprise at the thinly veiled threat.

Draco knew it was a task Voldemort thought he was incapable of completing. It was merely an excuse to punish him and his mother, since he couldn't take out his anger on Draco's father. Not after he'd been sentenced to Azkaban.

Draco had no choice. He had to attempt what the Dark Lord asked of him. No matter how unlikely he would be to succeed.

He had to find a way to kill Dumbledore… or his mother was as good as dead.

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Tonks walked in stride alongside Sirius Black. They were on the way to a vampire hotspot in a local park that Spike had suggested they check out.

Raven and Faith had gone up a few yards ahead of them.

"So Tonks, I have to ask…what's with the hair?" Sirius looked at her mousy brown head of hair curiously.

She ran her fingers through the dull locks, "I've just had some trouble controlling my powers lately, that's all."

He frowned.

"Is something wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I'm fine. Really."

"You know generally when someone says they are fine…. and they actually mean it, they don't look like someone just came over and dropkicked their new puppy…"

She stifled a laugh.

"Aha!" Sirius wrapped an arm around her, "There we go! There's the Tonks I know and love…"

Tonks couldn't help but to return Sirius's smile.

His jovial demeanor shifted for a moment into an earnest one.

"If something really is bothering you and you just don't want to talk about it…that's fine. Just remember that if you change your mind, I'll be right here."

She didn't think she was going to be telling Sirius about her feelings for Remus anytime soon, but the sentiment was nice.

She nodded, "Alright."

"Aw…Now that's adorable. Isn't boys?"

Sometime during the course of their conversation a group of vampires had flanked them. There were roughly a dozen of them.

Tonks hadn't noticed until then that they'd arrived at the park. There had been a number of unexplained muggle deaths here. Spike had mentioned something about a slew of barbeque fork accidents.

Sirius looked around them.

"Where did Faith and Raven go?" He said. Tonks had sworn the two had been in front of them a second ago, but now they were nowhere to be found.

"I guess this means both of us are the bait." Tonks chuckled uneasily.

"Guess so."

Both Tonks and Sirius drew their wands in a flourish.

"What's that you got there?" One of them stared at their wands.

"Sticks?"

The group cackled and a tall black haired vampire sauntered closer toward them.

"Those are the sorriest excuses for stakes I've ever seen! What? You fancy yourselves hunters?" His face contorted into his demonic visage, "I've killed every hunter who ever came up against me!"

"So, that would be…. none, then?"

Faith's voice came from behind the vampire, "Cause seriously man, only fledglings use that stale played-out crap."

The vampire lost his overconfident demeanor upon seeing the newcomer, "Where did you come from?"

"Your dreams, stud muffin." Faith said sarcastically. She ignored the vampires advancing on her from behind.

The vampire looked like he was about to retort, but before he could, he burst into flames.  
He let out a howl and ran toward the line of forest trees where a small pond could be seen.

But he never made it. His body exploded into ash just shy of the trees.

Faith saw that Tonks had been the one who'd set the vampire on fire.

"That was sweet!" the slayer looked back to the now dusted vampire, "I have SO got to learn that one!"

The other vampires finally broke out of their stupor. Three came close behind Faith and tried to grab her; possibly to use her as a shield from Tonks' and Sirius's wands. But their human shield wasn't about to comply.

The first one that grabbed her received a severely shattered nose when she whipped her head back into his face. He sputtered and swore uncontrollably.

He tried to go after her again and the other two went to help.

Separate spells hit the two and they flew backwards. Faith let loose a powerful right hook hitting the vampire right in the chin and he dropped like a rock.

"Come on! Get up!" Faith kicked him in the stomach launching him backward. "It's like your not even trying!"

She was a lot stronger than Tonks thought she'd be.

Faith pulled out a stake from her jean jacket and advanced on the vampire.

Tonks dispatched another vampire with an Incendio spell and went to hex another that was running toward her, but what she hadn't noticed was the vampire coming from her left. It grabbed hold of her roughly and shoved her to the ground.

"Tonks!" Sirius yelled as he came to assist her. He pointed his wand at the demon.

"Confringo!"

The intended target barely leapt out of the way. The jet of energy from Sirius's wand slammed into the ground sending fragments of turf and soil everywhere.

Faith had been running to help from the other direction only to get showered with debris.

She spat out dirt and grass from her mouth, "Blech! Thanks for that Sirius!"

A female vampire shrieked as an arrow ripped through her heart and she disintegrated.

"Woo! This compound bow is the shit!" Raven hollered.

"It better be. Thing cost me like 500 Euros." Faith said as she finished cleaning the dirt off herself.

The vampire that had dove away from Sirius's spell was getting back up but she staked him before he could regain bearings.

Only four vampires were left now, and their fear was palpable. They knew they were outmatched.

One ran at Raven, likely thinking her the weakest of the group. She smacked him across the head with her bow. Or more accurately, Faith's bow.

"Hey, watch it! You break it, you buy it!" Faith reprimanded.

Raven made of a show of setting the bow delicately down on the grass, "There! Happy!?"

Then, in a burst of power she delivered a round house kick to the vampire attacking her.

Tonks smiled at the interplay between the two. Her newest cousin was turning out to be alright after all. Faith was a little odd, but that was something Tonks could always appreciate.

And Raven was brilliant too, she reminded her a bit of herself… back when she wasn't such a miserable mess.

All the vamps were dusted except for one that had run away into forest sometime during the fight.

"Well, that was fun." Faith went over and picked up her bow and Raven handed her the quiver, which she slung over her shoulder.

"You have an odd definition of fun." She commented.

But in truth, Tonks couldn't help but agree with her cousin.

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Remus Lupin was three days away from his transformation and he could feel it looming. He made plans with Snape to get the Wolfsbane potion tomorrow. But, his worries were about something else entirely.

Tonks.

He loved her. She loved him. And if only things were that simple.

She deserved better. Remus had nothing to offer her…and she would be in danger because of his condition. He feared the stigma of being a werewolf may transfer to her too if they started a relationship. He had been dealing with the fear and looks people gave him for years, but he didn't want to put her through that.

If anyone ever did anything to Nymphadora because of him…

Remus sighed and put his hands over his face in defeat.

"Oh, bloody hell…seems I've traded one broody ponce for another."

Spike stood at the kitchen entrance cigarette in hand.

Remus pushed his now empty plate away from himself, "What do you want?"

He didn't know much about the man, but he didn't trust him. Spike had admitted he'd killed people, so he thought the mistrust was justified.

"Nothing, I was just hungry."

He held up a paper bag in his hand. Spike put out his cig and took a seat across from Lupin. He reached into the bag and pulled out a plastic container filled with a red substance.

"Is that…?"

"Pig's Blood. And get your own wolfie. This is mine."

Spike popped off the lid.

"You're going to drink it? Why would…" Remus stopped.

Well, now he knew why he got such a strange vibe from the guy.

Spike's scarred brow rose, "I figured you already knew, that dog-boy or Dumbledore said something…I guess that little tidbit got lost in the shuffle. I mean Illyria and Faith are a hell of a lot more interesting than a measly little vampire. Not that I'm measly, mind you."

Well, that explained him killing people, but not why he'd stopped.

"You don't…bite people anymore?"

"Not regularly."

Spike took a sip of the blood testing it. "Hmmm...Needs something…"

He stood and started shuffling through the cabinets and pulled out a container of cinnamon.

"So where are Faith and your other 'friends'?"

"Faith's out with Tonks, Sirius and the Princess on patrol. I knew a place they could check out. Vampires, probably. I would have gone, but four is crowded enough. May go out later. And Illyria…. I don't rightly know where that crazy bint has gotten to…"

"Tonks? She went with Faith?"

What if something happened to her? Lupin paled at the thought.

"Woah ho ho! What do we have here? So that's why you're so down and out…I figured it was just some boring _'woe is me, life is so hard as a creature of the night'_ claptrap. But, it's because of a girl? That's brilliant."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Lupin took his dishes to the counter and cleaned them off with his wand.

"Right. Of course you don't…cause I mention Tonks and Sirius are out fighting vampires... and you don't show an ounce of concern for you once dead best-friend, but get all wound up at the thought of Pixie out there in the middle of the night fighting vampires… without you to protect her." Spike pointed at him.

"And don't tell me it's because she's a girl….that's bollocks. I know she's one of those aurors and only the most talented witches and wizards can do that, from what I hear. So she's more than capable." Spike set down the container of blood and came to stand closer to Remus.

"And who could blame you wanting her, really? She's pretty. Hell, if you're really aren't interested…I'll gladly have a go at her. I could show her things she wouldn't believe…" Spike grunted suggestively.

Lupin shoved Spike hard into the table.

"You shut your bloody mouth! If you even go near her, I'll kill you!" Lupin growled.

Spike just laughed, "I was just fucking with you mate. Did it to prove a point."

The vampire straightened his jacket and Remus continued to stand there fuming.

"I'll just finish my dinner somewhere else and leave you be. But, before I go…a word of advice," Spike grabbed his blood and went to the stairs, "Pull your head your of your arse. You love her…then bloody well do something about it. You're a monster…so what? I'm a monster, but it sure as shit never stopped me from loving anybody. This broody crap doesn't help anyone. Least of all her."

With that he left, leaving Remus Lupin alone with his thoughts.

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_One week later…_

Faith revved the engine of the sleek Aston Martin as she rolled up to the address Albus had given her.

The blue Vantage Roadster shone brilliantly in the mid-day sun. The car was amazing. It was a rental and if Faith had the money she would totally buy one of her own. Too bad it cost more than she made in two years, despite the fact that the Watchers Council paid her pretty well.

Dumbledore had offered to side-along apparate there, but this was something she wanted to do by herself.

The tires of the car thrummed lightly over the cobbled road.

The whole area of Spinner's End was pretty gloomy and run down, but not any more than the Southie project Faith had grown up in.

But, it did seem to suit Snape. He was just as dank, dark, and depressing as this place was.

She had begun to reconsider her choice in vehicle though…the Aston Martin stuck out like a sore thumb.

Thank god she opted for the good rental insurance; cause a car like this one parked in a place like this was just asking to get stolen.

Well, hopefully this wouldn't take too long.

She turned off the engine and locked the car before walking up to the address. There was a row of attached brick houses and Severus Snape's was located at the very end of the row. It was extremely small.

Faith hadn't known what she expected of Snape's house, but this hadn't been it.

It had been a week since Snape had stormed out of Grimmauld Place. So, hopefully he had cooled down a bit and might be willing to listen to her. That was probably wishful thinking.

She stepped up the short walkway and knocked on the door twice. It was several minutes before the door creaked open.

Snape stood behind it and eyed her with both surprise and antipathy.

"Why are you here?"

The corner of Faith's mouth twitched in amusement. She held out a pile of books in her hands.

"You forgot these."

She pushed open the door and let herself in.

"I didn't say you could come in."

Faith gave him a look, "Yeah well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not a vampire. Cause that's really the only reason it would matter to me that I didn't get an invitation."

The inside of Snape's house was even gloomier than the outside. The sitting room was cramped and the walls and even the doors were lined with bookcases filled with leather bound books.

She placed the pile of school books on the rickety table in the sitting room. To her surprise the shoddy piece of crap didn't collapse under the weight of them.

"So, I read those chapters from those books that you wanted me to. I was wondering if you would reconsider helping to teach me." Faith leaned against the chair next to the table.

"No."

Snape gestured to the doorway, "You have plenty of other people to help you. Like your cousin, I'm sure he will leap at the chance to train another dunderhead like himself."

"Dunderhead?" Faith repeated, "Heh, if you're going to insult me… I'm sure you could do better than that. That's like something a twelve-year old would say."

Snape bristled, "Can you please leave? One of the other Death Eaters is staying with me and he will be back any moment."

Faith crossed her arms, "Right, double life to lead, I get that. Really do. But, I didn't drive all this way for you to say no. I won't let you."

"You won't let me? I hate to disappoint you, but you can't always get what you want."

She smirked, "That's were you're wrong Sev. I do get what I want…and when I don't, it tends to end messily."

"Is that a threat?" His eyes burned.

"No. Doesn't have to be." She walked over to one of the many bookcases and looked at the books idly.

Snape still stood with the door open, staring daggers at her.

"I also wanted to…apologize." Faith drew her fingers across the row of leather bindings.

This was going to be difficult. She was never one for apologizing.

"I shouldn't have done what I did in front of Narcissa or that thing back at Grimmauld Place. I just...it's the way I am sometimes, alright?" Faith tried to explain unsuccessfully.

"Are you asking me to forgive you? Because I'm afraid that will not happen. You embarrassed me in front of Narcissa Malfoy and jeopardized my relationship with her. She may never confide in me again, thanks to you. Then, what you did at Grimmauld Place…that was reprehensible."

Faith sighed, "Fine. Don't forgive me. I don't really care. What I do care about is you training me again. We started off on the wrong foot and I wanted to change that."

"You've already proven to me that you can't take it seriously, so I am loath to do so. And why is it so important that I help?" He finally shut the door, but still remained far on the other side of the tiny room.

"What can I say? I am glutton for punishment." Faith winked. "Truth is, I've been thinking…"

"Somehow I sincerely doubt that." Snape commented.

She ignored him, "I've been thinking that I need a training that comes from all angles, yeah? So that means you training me, Sirius training me, Remus, Tonks, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and whoever else. That's because I want to be ready for whatever is coming and learn as much as I can. Plus, I don't like that you think I'm stupid, alright? You piss me off. And frankly...I want to prove you wrong."

Severus appraised her before taking a seat on the threadbare sofa. "What assurances do I have that you will do as I say?"

Faith's brow furrowed, "Depends what you tell me to do. I'll do what ever you say within reason, but no funny stuff."

He nodded, "You said you read those chapters? Perhaps a little quiz, to test if you are really as serious as you say you are?"

"You're on." Faith jumped into the old armchair which groaned with the sudden weight.

"Alright Miss Lehane…" He thought for a moment, "Aside from proper wrist movements and pronunciation, what else is crucial for a proper functioning spell?"

Faith pressed her lips in consideration, "Intention. You have to mean it."

"Can you clarify that?"

"Your feelings have to match the spell or it won't work. Intention is also crucial for non-verbal spells, obviously, or you wouldn't be casting anything…you would just be standing there with your wand held out in front of you… looking wicked retarded. Intention is also important in Dark Magic like the Cruc-i-a-tus…did I say that right? You have to want to hurt the person…enjoy it even."

Snape's face darkened at the mention of the Cruciatus curse.

"The Unforgivable Curses are not mentioned in _Magical Theory_ and certainly not in _Standard Book of Spells_. How did you hear of them?"

"You left your other books- remember ? When I finished reading the two you gave me cover to cover a few days ago… I decided to read the others too."

Faith looked smug.

"So... you still think I'm not serious?"

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_review_


	18. Gifts

**The Road to Redemption **

_A/N: Thanks for all your reviews! I appreciate them a lot. I'm sorry for the delay. I've had some writers block compounded with real life things like needing to get things done before I graduate in June. I was going to have more at the end of this chapter, so it is shorter than most...but I figured since I haven't posted in a while I should give something to tide you over till the next post, which may take me a while to write.  
Also, if you read Chap 17 a few hours after I posted it… I made some changes, so if you haven't re-read it (basically just the end of it), I would check that out._

_A/N: I know some of you are getting annoyed with the fact that its been eighteen chapters now, and Bella still has not learned of Faith…but I do actually know where I am going with this fic (have an outline and everything) and that discovery comes about after a bunch of other events that I haven't even written yet. So, I'm sorry that I won't be for a while. But, I will be giving you something in the next chapter that may appease you till that revelation actually happens…hopefully._

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It had been a several weeks and Faith had already made great strides. Quite a few people in the Order of the Phoenix had taken turns teaching her what they could.

Snape had taught her the basics of proper casting the first week and some simple charms. Then, Sirius and Remus taught her some of the more common curses and counter curses.

Arthur Weasley had even started to teach her about the Ministry and various statutes and regulations. Which was just as boring as every Watcher's Council meeting she'd ever been a part of. Then luckily, Mr. Weasley got so excited at the prospect of speaking with someone who knew a lot about American Muggles, that they'd sort of deviated from the teaching and wound up talking about 'Chick Flicks', 'fast food', the internet, and the Boston Red Sox for like three hours.

He had been damn near inconsolable when she couldn't explain how an airplane managed to stay up in the air.

And now that she thought about it… she sort of wanted to know how they did that too.

Faith could cast most of the typical charms and spells a student would learn in their first year and had even started on some more advanced spells. She was still having some trouble with Transfiguration so McGonagall was going to come and help her on Monday.

Much to Snape's annoyance she'd refused to be taught Potions. Faith thought it was essentially useless for her. Faith was looking for experience that would help her both fit in to the wizarding society without suspicion and defend herself better in confrontations…it wasn't like she was going to whip out a cauldron in the middle of a fight so she could cook up some Skelegrow or Strengthening Solution. She'd just buy it ahead of time…

Or have Snape make it.

When Faith had told him exactly that, it had nearly led to yet another fight. It seemed come naturally when Snape and Faith had to interact with one another. Faith couldn't help but press his buttons and Snape couldn't help but get pissy.

It was better than it had been, at least he wasn't insulting her constantly. Instead it was only occasionally. So that was something.

Faith trudged up the flight of stairs to find Sirius Black pacing around his bedroom. She knocked on the door frame. He spun to look at her.

"Heya cuz, you ready to go?"

Sirius looked better than he had when they first met. He had his hair trimmed and he had on a pair of crisp clean robes. He didn't look quite as ill and starving as he had weeks before. Sirius was still a bit thinner than he aught to be, but he was starting to look a bit more youthful and healthy. His newfound freedom had really done wonders for his appearance.

"I think so. I just have to find…" he scanned the bedroom. "Ah! There it is!" Sirius snatched up a neatly wrapped present from his bed.

"Alright. Let's get a move on. So we gonna floo up out of this bitch or…" Faith paused. "Is that a Ducati?" she rushed into her cousin's room.

Sirius's room had several posters of biker chicks. There were some other magical wizard-type posters, which she simply ignored and made a beeline to one motorcycle poster in particular.

Faith admired the Italian motorcycle in the picture and smirked at the half-naked woman posed on top of the bike.

Nice.

Apparently even male wizards appreciated hot chicks on crotch rockets…

"I've always loved motorbikes. The muggles finest invention in my opinion."

"The tits aren't bad either." She quipped. "God's finest invention in my opinion…" Faith looked down at her own assets, "Oh the things these babies have gotten me…"

Sirius coughed and shifted uncomfortably, he obviously didn't care to comment on the big busty women plastered all over his room to his female cousin.

Some people were so uptight.

She looked back to the motorcycle, "Anyway, I was saving up to buy this sleek black Ducati from this bike shop back in Cleveland. Then all this happened. I love bikes."

"I have a flying motorcycle that you should see! Hmm…that reminds me, I have to ask Hagrid if I can get it back. Seeing as I can finally leave this house, I can use it again…"

"That's sweet!" Faith was excited by the prospect of a flying motorcycle, "I'll definitely have to take it out for a spin when you get it back."

Sirius looked as though he'd just remembered something and turned to his dresser to pull open one of the drawers, "Before we go, I have something I've been meaning to give you."

He took out what looked like a glass spinning top, which he handed it to her.

She held it in her hand and studied it.

Yup. It was a top.

Sirius was strange.

She thought it best to just indulge him.

"Umm…Thanks?"

"It's a sneakoscope. It spins and lights up whenever someone deceitful is close by." Sirius explained, seeing her confusion.

That would certainly come in handy. Although, it would be annoying if it spun when someone was only doing something mildly deceitful; like cheating on their taxes or telling some girl her pants didn't make her ass look fat...

Then the thing would be spinning nonstop.

"I wanted to give it to you because when we first met, when you were little, you tried to take it from me."

"Let me get this straight…you're giving it to me because I tried to steal it from you? That hardly makes sense. You take a trip to Crazy Town when I wasn't looking?" Faith examined the sneakoscope more closely.

"No. I just came across it the other day and it made me think of you. I thought you might want it."

"Oh."

She rolled it in her hand thoughtfully. It did seem vaguely familiar…

Sirius' room did too. Then it hit her.

_Want._

_Take._

_Have._

Her hand curled around the sneakoscope tightly but not enough to break it.

"_My mum… said bad things about you. 'Don't you talk to him…he's a muggle lover'…_"

Faith murmured the words aloud, not really realizing she'd said them until Sirius responded.

"I see you're starting to remember. That's good….I think."

"Yeah." Faith cleared her thoughts as she stuffed the sneakoscope into her pocket, "Thanks."

The two of them went downstairs. Lupin was waiting at the foot of the stairs. He still looked like shit.

Maybe it was just the way werewolves were.

Although, she never remembered Oz looking quite as strung out.

But, that may have just been Oz. Nothing seemed to faze that guy.

The three of them walked over to the fireplace.

"Okay, Faith you've seen this done before. Just take the powder, state your destination clearly, and throw the powder down." Lupin explained as he took some of the floo powder and walked into the fire place.

"Got it." Faith took some powder in her hand as Remus disappeared from the fireplace.

She stepped up and readied herself.

"The Burrow!"

Faith threw the powder on the ground and fought the urge to flinch as she was engulfed in green flames.

She tumbled awkwardly out of the Weasley's fireplace, but was able to roll onto her feet somewhat gracefully.

She was dusting herself off as Sirius came out of the fireplace with a practiced ease.

"Oh good! You're here! Fantastic!" She ushered Sirius and Remus to the door and turned to Faith.

"Faith, can you be a dear and get Harry's birthday cake from the kitchen?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. W."

Faith walked to the kitchen and picked up the rather large cake.

On her way out she saw that Tonks was sitting at the kitchen table swirling a nearly empty cup of tea in her hand.

She sure looked depressed. Tonks had pretty much been that way since Faith had met her. However at that particular moment, she seemed to be wallowing a bit more than usual.

She seemed almost as depressed as…

Oh.

So, that was the sitch.

Romantic troubles.

Funny...Faith sort of had Lupin pegged as gay.

"Wotcher, Faith. Did you still want to go after this?"

Faith nodded.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll stay very long here. Harry doesn't seem to like me very much. I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Alright. And don't worry too much about Harry. I'm sure he doesn't hate you."

She was probably right.

But the kid didn't trust her and that was close enough.

Plus, Harry was too nosy for his own good. His friends too. It probably wouldn't be long before he figured out who she really was… and all her dirty little secrets.

Harry seemed the type that didn't view the world in shades of gray…it was black and white…good and evil…

Once a killer…always a killer.

He reminded her way too much of B.

Buffy had gotten a little better with that over the years, but she had never really forgiven Faith.

She could forgive Angel, Spike, Willow, Anya and hell even Andrew. But not her.

Willow had tried to end the world, but Buffy could forgive that...because they were friends.

Whatever.

She didn't know why she still cared what Buffy thought of her anyway.

And frankly she could care less about the opinion of a 16 year old boy like Harry Potter. If Harry hated her guts…it really wasn't her problem.

The rest of the wizarding world looked on the kid like he was the flippin' second coming. But last time Faith checked, she wasn't the rest of the wizarding world.

The only reason Faith didn't want him to find out about her past because then inevitably the rest of them would find out too.

And she had sort of become fond of a few of them. Tonks, the Weasleys, Lupin, Mad-Eye…

She feared what they would think of her if they knew everything that she had done. Sirius had only forgiven her because Cordy had given him a swift kick in the nuts.

And Dumbledore forgave her because he was just the type of guy that gave people the benefit of the doubt.

But the others…she wasn't so sure.

Faith made it outside to the table and set down the birthday cake down in front of Harry. He was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Happy Birthday, H.P."

She winked, trying to ignore his hostility.

"Thanks." He watched her as she took the seat across from Sirius and Remus.

There was a pile of presents on the picnic table and Faith reached into her inner jacket pocket to pull out her poorly wrapped present to put it in with the rest. It was a little something she picked up at the Wiccan magic shop. It was a small mojo bag that was supposed to bring good luck and provide some protection from dark magic. She didn't know how well it worked, but it was the only thing she could find.

It was probably a better gift than getting him the Bowie Knife she had considered getting him when she'd been at the hunting store to restock her slaying supplies.

Remus had been in the middle of discussing the goings on with Voldey and his not-so-merry gang. A lot of muggle deaths, bridges collapsing because of Giants (she should send Giles a letter to be on the lookout for Giants), and a few missing wizards.

"I've been trying to infiltrate Fenrir Greyback's group of werewolves for months now. He's aligned with the Death Eaters. I believe they may be aware of my allegiances to Dumbledore… so progress has been slow at best." Remus sighed, "But, I have discovered that they've started recruiting other magical beings aside from werewolves to their ranks…which is discouraging news."

"Maybe not…" Faith pondered aloud.

The rest of the table looked confused and Harry started staring at her suspiciously again.

"How so?" Lupin asked.

"Well we happen to know two magical beings that Greyback and Voldemort don't know about… now don't we?"

Several people at the table flinched at the use of the Dark Lord's name.

"I don't know that I would trust those two to be spies. I wouldn't put it past Spike and Illyria to just join Voldemort and be done with it." Mad Eye said from across the table.

"Spike wouldn't do that. I know him. Would trust the vampire with my life. Now, I really can't say the same for Illyria. But, she is loyal to Spike for some reason. She wouldn't betray us, as it would ultimately betray him."

"She makes a valid point Alastor. We should speak to Spike and see if he is willing as soon as is possible." Albus had come from inside along with Molly and Tonks who were bringing out more food to the table.

Bowls and plates filled to the brim with food floated on to table.

"But first, let us think about happier things! Like Harry's birthday! Eh, Harry?" Sirius gave his godson a one armed hug from his seat next to him.

The kid was beaming at his godfather's attention. Harry sort of annoyed Faith, but it was nice to see him happy…from what she'd heard he had been dealt a pretty shitty hand in life.

She thought her life had been far worse, but that wasn't exactly something she wanted to be competitive about. If anything she'd wish she was the loser. The less problems the better, thanks.

Ginny, who was sitting next to her, leaned over to her.

"Spike is a vampire? You're friends… with a vampire?"

"Nice to see you've caught up."

"But you slay vampires…don't you?"

Ginny's face scrunched up in confusion. She was clearly not seeing how Faith could be friends with a vampire and be chosen to hunt them at the same time.

Lots of the Mini-Slays had a problem with that concept too…

Which was why the girls were all very confused by Buffy's habit of sleeping with them.

"It's not like I ever claimed to be any good at it." Faith smirked.

Ginny didn't have a response to that so she kept her mouth shut, which was perfectly fine with Faith.

She brought her plate over to some salad and shoveled it on then grabbed some of the pork pies next to the salad bowl.

After a few minutes the twins came up to her smiling amiably, which made her all sorts of uneasy.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the pair.

"Whatever it is…I don't want any…"

She'd been warned by Mrs. Weasley about Fred & George. She didn't want to eat something that turned her into a canary or made her blow smoke out her ears.

The twins looked a little disappointed by her words, but remained chipper.

"Where's Raven?"

Faith thought it might have been Fred who had spoken. But in truth, she had no idea.

"Raven couldn't make it. She's having lunch with a few other Slayers her age back in London."

"Oh. Well, we brought her some of our latest creations." One of them said.

"She was really interested in our joke shop, so we wanted to give her these free of charge." The other continued.

Faith was glad she intercepted these. Now Raven couldn't catch her off-guard.

"I'll give 'em to her. I'm sure she'll love them."

After eating, they'd sung Harry 'Happy Birthday' and he blew out the candles on his cake. The cake had been delicious. She had even taken a second piece.

And a third.

Oh, the joys of a Slayer metabolism.

Harry seemed to like his present well enough.

Most of them seemed to view Wiccan magic as complete nonsense, but Harry appeared to give it a bit more consideration and thanked her for it.

She'd been at the party for about two hours and it had started to die down. Harry had gone off to play Quidditch with his friends and Faith figured it was a good time to get going. Faith let Sirius know that she was leaving and would see him back at Grimmauld Place later that night.

Then she went in search of Nymphadora.

Tonks was by the house speaking with Molly and smiled when she saw Faith approach.

"You ready?"

Faith nodded and shoved her hands in her pockets nervously.

"Yeah, I'm game. I'm all set to meet you're mom and pops."

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_review._


	19. Fears Confirmed

_Disclaimer:Not mine._

_A/N: I know, I know...its been way too long since my last update. Sorry...I've been distracted with other things. And also I'm not gonna lie I was replaying both Knights of the the Old Republic games and used most of my free time to do that. By the way if you like Star Wars and haven't played KOTOR, you should get on that. Its the best game ever. Anyway to make up for my absence, here is a really long chapter. And I like to think its a pretty good one. And I graduate Sunday!! YAY!_

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_  
In doubt, fear is the worst of prophets._

_- Statius_

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Bella's daughter was alive.

And she was coming here.

Her daughter had told her about Eris on her last visit two days ago. Nymphadora was going to bring her by tonight.

Andromeda didn't know what to think. She had never met Eris. As if Bella would ever let her blood traitor of a sister anywhere near her little girl. She wrung her hands nervously and just didn't know what to do with herself, they'd be arriving any moment. She grabbed a glass from the counter and a cleaning rag.

Andromeda never cleaned things the muggle way before she had gotten married.

But, after being around Ted and his parents, she had sort of picked up the habit. She found it oddly soothing. Which was why she always tended to do it when she was worried about something.

"You've cleaned that glass three times already Dromeda; I dare say it's clean."

Her husband stood watching her from the dining room. He was so calm about all of this. She wanted to scream at him.

Ted should be worried.

They were meeting the daughter of her sister. Her fanatical murderer of a sister. The same sister that had killed Sirius and wanted to kill them.

But Sirius was no longer dead…something she hadn't even begun to understand.

Not that she wasn't grateful for the news.

"I know Ted. I just…this is Bella's daughter we're talking about…and she's out there with Nymphadora right now. And she's coming here….what if something happens? What if…"

She set down the glass when she felt Ted's arms wrap around her.

"Everything will be fine Dromeda. You worry too much."

He tried to comfort her, but it wasn't working.

"And you don't worry enough."

Andromeda pushed away from him.

"Dora said she was a nice girl, didn't she? And Dumbledore trusts her. I don't think there is any need to worry…" Her husband said as he used the clean glass to get himself some water.

"Dumbledore also trusts Severus Snape. So I don't know that I trust his judgment. And even if she is trustworthy…her being here will only give Bella more reason to want us dead. As if she needs any."

Why had she agreed to this meeting anyway?

It was probably because Nymphadora had been so excited about it. Andromeda couldn't bring herself to deny her.  
It had been one of very few things that had brought a smile to her daughter's face in months.

Dora still wouldn't tell her why she was so withdrawn lately. At first, she thought it was because of Sirius' death, but he was back now and her demeanor hadn't changed.

And despite the fact that Andromeda would chide her daughter incessantly on her choice of hair color, she had come to view the bubble gum pink locks as distinctly Nymphadora.

To see her without them was just troubling.

There was someone knocking at the door. Andromeda made no movement to answer it, so Ted took the initiative.

"I'll get it." Ted gave her a tight squeeze on the shoulder as he walked past.

"Everything will be fine Dromeda. I promise."

Andromeda forced herself to follow behind. Her steps felt heavy, as though someone had tied two ton weights around each of her ankles.

When she finally entered the foyer she saw that Ted had already opened the door and was hugging their daughter.

Eris Lestrange was standing right behind Nymphadora.

It was taking everything within Andromeda not to bolt to the door and push the young woman out of her house and lock the door.

Of course, it didn't look like the girl wanted to be there anymore than Andromeda. Eris was seemed incredibly uncomfortable watching the affectionate interaction between Ted and Dora. She tried to look in any direction, but at the two of them.

Inevitably her niece's wandering eyes found their way to her and they widened considerably.

Dromeda was well aware that she looked very similar to her sister.

No matter how much she wished otherwise. That must have been why the girl was staring at her in awe.

Ted broke his hug with his daughter and went to address Eris.

"Hello, Faith. Dora has told us all about you."

Faith.

Andromeda still couldn't stop thinking of the girl as Eris.

It was her real name after all.

Faith gave Ted a forced smile. She was nervous about this whole situation; a sentiment Andromeda wholly shared.

"She did, huh? Nothing too bad I hope?"

Faith had her hands shoved deeply into her pockets and had an almost childlike worry plastered on her face.

Andromeda may have found it endearing if it was anyone else, but on someone who looked and moved so much like Bella had when they were kids… she found it near impossible to find Faith charming by any sense of the word.

Ted seemed to have no such prejudices.

"No, not at all! Heh, Dora was just telling me about how you're a Slayer. I can't say I know much about them. Is it true you can sense dark creatures from miles away?"

Faith gave him an incredulous look, "Uh, no, not quite. More like yards. Depends on the strength of the demon… and if I'm trying to sense 'em or not."

Her American accent was somewhat disconcerting.

She knew from what Dora had told her that the girl was raised in the States, but being told it and seeing it firsthand was something else entirely.

Merlin help whomever crossed Bella's path when she finally discovered the full brunt of Eris' kidnapping and subsequent muggle upbringing.

That Bella's only daughter had been taken from her would be bad enough… but for her to discover that Eris now stood as an almost hackneyed version of all that Bellatrix Lestrange and her peers despised…

It would be too much for her unstable sister to take.

The irony would almost be amusing to Andromeda, if she didn't fear the tidal wave of anger Bella would no doubt create would somehow come crashing down on her, her husband and their daughter.

She stiffened as the girl came over and offered her a hand.

"You must be Andromeda."

Andromeda gave off the patented Black family air of indifference, simply in an attempt to cover up her fear she had built up over this meeting.

"And you must be Faith..."

The girl's grip was strong when they shook hands. It was not strong enough to be painful, but enough to hint at the raw power that still lay in wait, coiled and ready to strike.

It made Andromeda even more uncomfortable than she already was.

Then out of nowhere, Faith threw that tension on its head when she snorted wryly and gave Andromeda a goofy lopsided grin.

Such an expression was something she could not even imagine ever gracing Bella's face…

And if it did, it probably meant someone was about to be brutally murdered.

"Here's hoping this reunion goes a bit better then the one I had with Narcissa."

Andromeda started to panic as soon as the words left Faith's lips.

Cissy knew about Faith?

Had she told Bella?

"You…you've… met Narcissa? What happened?"

If Bella knew about Eris, she might know that she was coming here, she might come here too….she might…

"Well that's between me, Cissy and Severus Snape…"

Faith laughed and Nymphadora had a hand covering her mouth trying to stifle her own giggles.

Andromeda didn't see what was so funny, and she hardly thought now was a very good time to be laughing. They may be in mortal danger.

Faith simply shrugged.

"…and hell, probably everyone in Diagon Alley."

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"Do you think this wise? To rush so quickly into this? The white-haired wizard only told us of this idea hours ago. We also did not inform the Slayer before our departure. We have no substantial plan on how to infiltrate the werewolf's group…I believe…"

"Sod it. That's what I say Blue. Sitting around with our thumbs up our asses for the last few weeks is driving me mental. We finally get a chance to do something meaningful and you want to keep sitting around?"

Spike kept his voice low and searched the area to make sure that no one was listening in. He gave Illyria a look of both disbelief and utter frustration while Illyria's face remained inexpressive, like always.

"Infiltrating this group of half-breeds holds roughly the same interest to me as staying at the wizard's dwelling with _'our thumbs up our asses'_ as you say. I have been around for millions upon millions of years- waiting mere days before taking action is no large span of time for me. And…as much as I despise this body and my current state of being. I do not desire to rush so ill prepared into danger and risk ending it. This life is better than the alternative of having no life at all. Even if at times I have my doubts."

Illyria walked in stride with Spike as they came ever closer to the supposed location of Fenrir's hideout.

"Don't worry you're pretty little head about it Frosta. I have a plan…err…of sorts."

Spike stopped as they approached to alleyway. "Now, I think we just won't mention you being an Old One, yeah? I think that would bring up more questions than I feel like answering."

Illyria's head tilted and her icy blue eyes reflected the moon's harsh glare.

"That seems a sound argument. What do you suggest I pretend to be? I must confess my ignorance of all the modern forms of half-breeds; they have changed greatly from my time."

"While I would suggest a succubus seeing as you're attractive enough...I don't think you could pull off seductive to save your life. Although, it would be a riot to see."

Illyria eye's narrowed.

Spike smirked, "Hmm…it would have to be something there aren't a lot of, so it's less likely they have anything to compare you too. An Ala? No, that wouldn't work - you'd have to be able to control the weather…"

He appraised her for a second and snapped his fingers.

"Got it! Varanus demon! I ran across one about 40 years ago. Lizard demon. Granted, they tend to possess males more often than females... but your features fit. You've certainly got the reptile thing going for you."

Illyria bristled.

"I am not a lizard."

Spike shrugged, "Well, they don't know that. It's the best I can do under short notice."

"The shortness of time was your doing half-breed, not mine. However…I will indulge you and be one of these… Varanus creatures. What are their powers and abilities?"

"They are unnaturally strong….no other unusual powers…but I think old Jorto had a forked tongue if I recall right." Spike scanned the alleyway and saw a large bulky man guarding a doorway.

The man looked the part of a stereotypical club bouncer, straight down to the shaved head and steroid induced biceps.

He was also a werewolf, Spike could sense that much. Must be the place.

The corner of Illyria's lips twitched in her own version of a smirk. She revealed a bluish purple forked tongue. She retracted it back into her mouth as though she was slurping up a piece of spaghetti.

"Fortunately, I am still quite capable of altering my form to a certain degree. Not drastic alterations, but I can do more than simply reverting to the Burkle persona."

"Do you have to keep calling her that?" Spike growled under his breath.

"I have the right to speak of Winifred Burkle as I see fit. She is, after all, a part of me."

The hackles of the werewolf bouncer stood on end as he watched the two of them approach. He looked ready to attack with the slightest provocation.

"What is your business here? Fenrir made no mention of new recruits."

Spike pulled out a cig, lighting it as he gave the man an apathetic glare. He blew a cloud of smoke in the werewolf's face before speaking. The werewolf's eyes narrowed, but he did not cough or make any move to wave the smoke from his face.

"Heard your guy Fenrir and that 'Dark Lord' wizard were looking for help. I'm up for anything that involves some good ol' fashioned slaughter. I love me a bit of blood shed. Leery here does too." He gestured to Illyria, "Thought we'd check it out."

The werewolf growled menacingly.

"You need to come to us through proper channels. We can't have random dark creatures waltzing up here and expecting to get in! You need someone to vouch for you. We need to know you're loyal to Greyback and the Dark Lord!"

The werewolf growled some more for good measure and pushed Spike back a step, causing him to drop his cig.

"Oy! Look here Sunshine, I don't need anyone to vouch for me! I'm Spike! William the soddin Bloody! You stupid waster!"

The werewolf didn't seem impressed. Clearly he didn't get out much or he would have at least heard of him.

Spike was also sort of hoping that it wasn't common knowledge that he had switched sides. Most demons that had found out were either being staked or decapitated at the time.

But, word had spread pretty quickly through Sunnydale and most demons that had been there knew he'd 'defected'.

He figured if it came up, he blame it on the chip and go through some bullshit story about getting it removed and looking to get back in the game.

Best not to think about it until it came up.

"I don't care who you think you are, vampire. You leave now before I make you."

This werewolf was pissing him off and Spike was about a second away from just beating the crap out of the guy and calling it a night.

The stupid SOB actually thought he could intimidate him? He was only a werewolf and it wasn't even near the full moon. Spike could wipe the floor with the dumb prick and Illyria wouldn't even need to do anything but watch and comment on how pathetically useless both of them were.

He started inching closer to the werewolf, readying himself for a fight.

Spike stopped his advance when he heard someone approaching. The newcomer's foot steps where soft and had a spring to them, like that of a seasoned fighter.

Whoever it was, he was not to be taken lightly…especially considering the werewolf at the door took a step back in fear.

Or maybe it was in respect, Spike wasn't quite sure which.

"It's alright Howie. I can vouch for them."

The big werewolf nodded, albeit reluctantly. Spike watched as the short man came into view.

Normally, it would have been comical to see a large seven foot bodybuilder show any sort of fear toward young man who didn't even reach five and a half feet tall...

But, Spike could sense the strength and power within him and 'Howie's' fear was probably justified.

Spike could still take the kid on any day of the week though.

The young man nodded to him in greeting. His red hair was gelled in the same haphazard way Spike remember it from Sunnydale.

"Spike."

He had never been a man of many words. Apparently that hadn't changed either.

But he was different in alot of ways. Spike certainly never got the dangerous vibe off the kid back in Sunnyhell.

Well, except on certain nights of the month when he wasn't feeling himself.

Or more like himself, depending how you looked at it.

Spike nodded to him cordially.

"Oz. It's been a while."

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* * *

This get-together was going much better than Faith had imagined it would.

Aunt Andy was a pretty cool lady once she relaxed a little bit. At first, the tension had been so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Faith had been worried that things were going to go even more downhill after Tonks had been telling Andromeda about their little escapade vampire hunting.

She hadn't been particularly pleased about her daughter fending off vampires. But luckily Uncle Ted had come to the rescue, mentioning that Dora was a trained Auror and fighting vampires was no less dangerous than what she did normally.

That hadn't really comforted Andromeda all the much, but it sort of lessened her animosity toward Faith. Which was a plus in her book.

Dinner had been delicious.

They'd all stared at her in disbelief when she'd consumed more food than the average sumo wrestler.

Andromeda had even expressed a bit of jealousy at her ability to eat so much and gain so little.

Of course, Faith didn't mention that she had to eat that much to stay this size.

If she ate what the average girl of her size and stature was supposed to, she'd waste away quicker than you could say 'anorexia'.

It was why most of her Council paycheck went to buying food.

Tonks was off in the other room with her father doing something, which had left Faith alone with Andromeda.

Her aunt came out of the kitchen with two hot cups of tea. She handed one of them to her and she accepted it.

Faith never really drank the stuff, but she didn't feel right rejecting the offer when she was finally starting to have a semi-decent rapport with the woman.

"So Faith, tell me about yourself."

Andromeda took a sip of her own tea before setting it down on the little coffee table that lay between them.

Faith always hated these types of questions. She couldn't very well tell the truth.

Not about her upbringing and certainly not about her more recent past.

And if there was one thing she despised more than the looks of distrust and hate she usually got…it was the looks of pity and false sympathy she got whenever she accidentally let slip anything about the 'mother' who had grudgingly raised her, her life in the streets of Boston, and every other shitty thing that happened to her during and after that.

"Umm, not much to say really. You know most of it. Got kidnapped from my real mom, and set up with a fake one in the States. I grew up in South Boston. I got chosen as a Slayer at sixteen. Been fighting demons and 'the forces of darkness' ever since. Then, Sirius fell out of nowhere and told me my life was a lie."

Damn.

There was that look she'd been trying to avoid.

She hadn't even mentioned the worst of it and still she got pity.

"I can't even begin to imagine what you are going through right now Faith. I feel I must apologize for the way I acted toward you before. You didn't deserve my mistrust. But there is a history between me and my sister that's hard for me to overlook."

Andromeda clutched the sides of her cup to warm her hands.

"I must admit… I am glad you were taken from my sister, as terrible as that incident was. If you hadn't been taken we would have never have met, at least not under such amiable circumstances. I am also thankful for it because Nymphadora doesn't have much friendly contact with my side of the family. Aside from Sirius."

She placed a hand on Faith's from across the table.

"I'm glad that she can count you as a friend."

Faith could understand where Andy was coming from. Still didn't mean she was happy about being ripped from her mother when she was a little girl. Faith didn't think she would ever get over that.

She couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like if she'd never been taken. Other than the fact that she would have a British accent.

"Yeah, I'm glad I can count her as a friend too."

Faith felt a familiar buzzing coming from her back pocket and slapped her hand over top it in surprise.

She pulled out her cellphone to check the message. Andromeda stared at it inquisitively.

"What is that?"

Faith flipped it open.

"Cell phone. Like the normal muggle telephone only you can use it most anywhere. You can also send typed messages if you want."

"The muggle's ingenuity continues to astound me…"

"Yeah, they're crafty buggers." Faith smiled and looked at her message. It was Raven.

_Hey where r u? Patrol 2night? Some of the girls want 2 meet u.  
Want to see the famous Rogue Slayer in action or sum shit. U in? _

She typed a quick response:

_Sure. Hour sound good?_

Faith sent the message before finishing off her tea with a giant gulp.

Which was just brilliant on her part.

It burnt her throat and all the way down to her stomach. She cringed a little, but tried to act as though she hadn't just burned the crap out of herself.

"Well, it's getting late Aunt Andy. I gotta get going. Things to do. Vampires to kill."

They both stood as Ted and Dora came in from the other room.

"You going?" Nymphadora asked.

"Yeah, I gotta patrol in like an hour."

Dora looked at the clock.

"It is getting late. I should probably go too." She said before hugging both her parents.

Both Andy and Ted saw them to the door. Faith opened the door and walked out to the porch with Dora right behind her.

"Hey, don't think you're getting away that easy!"

Ted called out to her and he came over to Faith and gave her a big hug.

"You take care of yourself, Faith."

Faith tensed at the sudden contact, but eventually relaxed and returned the hug.

"I'll try."

Andromeda stepped out onto the porch as well.

"You're more than welcome to come back anytime dear. Don't even to hesitate, if you need anything… we'll be here for you."

That meant a lot to Faith, hearing her say that. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"Sure thing Andy."

As Faith turned to leave she heard something buzzing in her pocket…

And it wasn't her phone.

"Wha-?"

Faith felt something whiz past her ear and instinct took over. Her hand whipped out to snatch the tiny projectile expertly out of the air.

Her hand was now wrapped tightly around the hilt of a small jagged knife.

A knife that was just millimeters from planting itself firmly in Uncle Ted's forehead.

Everyone stood there in shock, staring at the knife that had nearly ended Ted's life.

Ted was at a loss for words, but did look profoundly appreciative to Faith. Not to mention amazed that she had snatched a knife out of thin air.

A frustrated shout came from the dark street.

A maniacal looking woman with unkempt hair walked up the cobblestone walkway, along with a stout man with a receding hairline and a tall man with wavy brown hair.

A handful of demons Faith didn't recognize the species of brought up the rear.

"Hello, sister."

The woman spat at Andromeda.

Her Aunt paled and grasped flimsily at her apron for her wand.

The woman withdrew her own and laughed derisively.

"I'm afraid your wards aren't quite as effective as you thought. At least not to keep me out sister…"

Faith dropped the knife and it bounced several times before settling on the ground.

Her mother.

And the taller man was her father. She recognized him from pictures Kreacher had shown her. She just couldn't seem to remember him as well as she remembered her mother.

"I must confess dear sister… I will take great pleasure in killing your mudblood husband and filthy half-blood daughter."

It was true, then.

No denying it anymore.

She had been told Bellatrix was a killer…

Endlessly in fact.

But, some part of Faith had always denied it, secretly hoping that everyone was just exaggerating.

A green tendril of light shot from Bella's wand and Faith made no movement to get out of the spell's way.

Luckily Nymphadora Tonks suffered no such paralysis and tackled Faith to the ground.

They both fell into the large bushes surrounding the porch.

She thought perhaps Tonks was attempting to apparate them both to safety. But nothing was happening. .

Tonks swore, "They must have done an Anti-Disapparition jinx!"

Nymhadora shot a large wolf-like Patronus out of her wand and it went dashing off into the night.

"The Patronus should contact the others."

Faith just stared at the woman approaching the porch and spoke in a near whisper.

"It's her, Tonks. I know everyone told me about her…but I didn't think…I just…"

Words were failing her.

"Faith. We will get out of this! Just pull yourself together!" Tonks shook her roughly trying to get through to her.

A large scaly hand reached in and latched around Tonks' shoulder pulling her forcefully from the bushes and onto the lawn.

Faith scowled as the demon advanced on her cousin.

Tonks was favoring her shoulder wincing in pain.

Faith noticed that Andy and Ted were too busy to help as they were currently fending off her parents and the other Death Eater. Faith brought herself out of her stupor and crawled out of the bushes to face the demon.

Too bad she didn't have one of her bigger weapons with her. It would make this so much easier.

Maybe it was time to practice her wand skills.

Faith brandished her wand and screamed out the first spell she could think of.

"Locomotor Mortis!"

The spell hit the demon in the back, but the demon wasn't affected.

"Damnit." She tried again, "Stupefy!"

Still nothing.

Either her spells really sucked… or this demon was immune to them.

The large green demon turned its attention to her. It howled loudly launching spit right in her face.

"Ew! Say it! Don't spray it, ugly!" She wiped the spit from her face.

It came at her, so Faith shoved the wand up her sleeve and pulled out her knife. The demon's fist came crashing down on her and she ducked out of the way.

Faith needed a way to kill these things fast, so that she could aid Andy and Ted who were still fending off her parents.

Its eyes sparkled like large red jewels.

_The eyes, the windows to the soul._

"Huh."

That gave her an idea…

She feigned right avoiding another swing from the demon.

Faith jammed her knife into the demon's eye and then the other. It let loose a piercing wail as red lights shot out its eye sockets.

She backed away as it fell limp to the ground; Tonks stood and rubbed her injured arm.

"I'll get the other demons. You help your parents."

Faith didn't wait for her response and rushed at the three demons lumbering up the lawn.

She thought it best to deal with what she was good at. Something that she knew how to handle... and Faith didn't think she could handle fending off killing curses from her own parents at the moment.

It wasn't like she was going to handle it much better in a few minutes when she got rid of these damned demons either... but she may as well avoid it for as long as possible.

The first creature didn't even get a chance to react to her attack before both of his eyes were punctured.

Unfortunately for her, the next one was a bit faster. It knocked her across the face catching her with the sharp barbs along its knuckles. It made two large gashes; one along her cheek and the other just above her eye.

Faith ignored the pain and successfully jammed the knife into one of its eyes. The demon ripped out the knife throwing it just out of her reach. It roared and threw her on her back with a thud.

Goo was dripping from the demon's wounded eye and onto her new jeans as it leaned over top of her.

"Damn it."

She'd just bought these pants. Slayers could never own anything nice….

Faith slammed the back of her heal on the ground to trigger the release of the dagger hidden in tip of her boot.

She kicked the demon that was now bent over her, jamming the dagger into the remaining eye accidentally breaking it off in the socket.

She'd just bought that damn thing too.

"Damn it. Nothing nice at all."

She had really liked that boot knife. It made her feel like James Bond and shit.

The gash on her brow was seeping blood into her eye. It burned like a bitch and to top things off, now she was having trouble seeing. Faith wiped away the blood from her face as best she could. She really hoped the gash would clot soon.

Her phone buzzed distracting her for a second.

She flipped it open and with out looking at Raven's message hit the little button on the side of the phone tossing it to the ground away from the mayhem. She didn't want to wind up falling on it and destroying the GPS system for Raven to track her location.

May as well have a back up in case Tonks' Patronus didn't send the message.

Luckily, the Council had handed those phones out years back to help the slayers in times of crisis. They used extremely powerful tracking systems and could even tell if someone was miles underground or hell, even if you were in orbit.

Of course if you were in orbit, you were probably screwed anyway...but at least they would know where to look for your body.

The final demon was hobbling in Ted's direction. There were a series of ropes that had been conjured around its legs, but it was still advancing.

She screamed at him, "The eyes! Get the eyes!"

Ted backed up to the porch to grab the knife that Bellatrix had attempted to kill him with just minutes prior.

Faith got out her wand so that she could join the fray.

"Expelliarmus!"

Her wand shot out of her hand just as she'd gotten it out.

Some witch she was turning out to be.

The pudgy Death Eater stood in front of her triumphantly. He grinned baring his yellowish-brown teeth. She grimaced at his complete lack of hygiene.

The wizard inched closer to her, but far enough that Faith couldn't attack him before getting cursed.

"Any last words?"

He brought his wand up aimed at her chest.

She snorted, were all evil types just incapable of coming up with original lines? It was like they all took the same class on corny bullshit phrases to use when confronted with the enemy.

"Yeah. Actually, I do." She crossed her arms and shifted her footing, but not enough to draw his suspicion.

She appeared defenseless and was certainly in no position to stop a wizard from killing her.

At least that's what she wanted him to think.

"It's called a toothbrush. Look it up rat-boy."

His beady eyes narrowed at her and his pointy nose twitched. He was gauging her warily. The man likely wasn't sure what to make of her affront on his person and complete indifference at a time when she should be cowering in fear.

He clenched his wandless hand in irritation; the hand appeared almost metallic in nature. Maybe it was the wizard version of a prosthetic.

"And maybe some wizard Rogaine too." She gestured around the top of her own head, "The balding look? Yeah, it doesn't make you look distinguished. It makes you look old."

His face reddened in anger, "You will not speak to me in such a manner! I... demand respect!"

Faith remained unimpressed, "Demanding something doesn't make it happen, hotshot." She crossed her fingers in front of her and her brow furrowed in concentration.

"I demand a mansion in Beverly Hills with a 60K car and my own personal man servant!" She looked around to see that nothing happened, "Damn. I should demand harder next time."

The wizard had clearly had enough of her and started to move his wand. But, what he'd failed to realize is that during the course of their conversation Faith had inched to within arm distance of him.

He opened his mouth to cast something.

"Avad- umpf!" Faith grabbed his wand arm pulling him forward and drew back her other arm to sucker punch him right in the nose. This caused him to drop his wand at blood spurted from his nostrils.

He looked so surprised at the turn of events that it made Faith want to laugh out loud. She was just about to take another swing at the bastard's face when she heard a shout come from across the lawn.

It was her Aunt.

She was knelt over top of her husband's body and was trying to revive him.

He wasn't moving.

Faith's stomach clenched. More blood was seeping into her eye and her vision blurred.

"Ted?"

He couldn't be…

He had to be alright.

He had to be.

She saw that her mother was coming up behind Andromeda.

But Andy didn't notice her. She was too busy shaking her husband frantically. Dora was fighting with Roldolphus farther away and couldn't help her mother without leaving herself open to attack.

"No."

This couldn't be happening.

This was supposed to be a friendly little get together and it had quickly turned into her worst nightmare.

The wizard was still blubbering next to her and shouting incoherent insults at her as he clutched his nose. He was feeling around the ground for his wand.

"I don't have time for you right now, tubby."

She brought her heal down onto his wand snapping it in two. Before he could do anything but look affronted, Faith cold cocked him and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Faith grabbed her own wand from the ground and sprinted at her mother.

She hoped she could stop her….

And wished for the hundredth time that this was all just a dream.

All just a horrible dream…

* * *

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_Dun Dun Dun._

_Reviews. ;)_


	20. Destiny's a Bitch

Disclaimer: Not mine. Except the concept.

_A/N: I know you probably all hate me because I took so long to update after the cliffhanger of the last chapter...I'm sorry. But, I promise I am always working on chapters, it just takes me a while anymore. I have alot of things on my mind. I'm going to have the next two weeks free house sitting my parents house so I should have alot more time to work on the next few chapters. So look forward to that. :) I know I am._

* * *

_"Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we? Helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are."  
-Whistler, BtVS Season 1 "Becoming Part 1"_

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The time was finally here.

She was going to end the taint that had disgraced her family.

Andromeda was leaning over top of her husband trying to wake him, tears falling down her face.

Sickening.

A pureblood wizard did not weep over the body of a mudblood. Bile crept into her mouth.

Her sister could not be allowed to live. This display was evidence of that, as was their abomination of a daughter.

Bellatrix Lestrange held her wand out toward her sister.

"No need to weep for him, Andy. You will be joining him soon enough."

Andromeda stiffened and turned to face her, but said nothing.

Bella grinned.

What spell to use? She couldn't just kill her. Certainly couldn't make it so easy for Andromeda.

She needed to feel pain…so much pain she'd be begging for death at Bella's hands.

May as well stick to old favorites.

"Crucio!"

The curse slammed into her sister's chest. Andromeda let out a piercing shriek that filled Bella with unfettered glee.

She stopped the curse out of the hope that she would hear her sister beg.

No such plea occurred. Her sister simply glared at her and tried to spit in her face, but it fell short just shy of Bella's feet.

"You know, you only brought this on yourself sister."

Bella prepared to curse her again.

"No!"

It was that woman she didn't recognize. The one that had stopped her initial attempt to kill Ted. It was quite fortunate that one of the now dead Lo'Grashi had remedied that failure.

Other than the one Ted had somehow managed to kill in his final throws, this unidentified girl had killed all of the Lo'Grashi in a matter of minutes.

And she had done it without any magic.

Which was impressive to say the least. Not to mention bothersome.

Whoever she was, she would need to be dealt with.

As she sprinted in her direction, Bella took in the girl's appearance.

The gashes the girl had sustained on her brow and cheek were seeping blood like a fissure. She had managed to smear the blood all over her face during the course of the battle.

It made her look like a vampire after a messy kill.

Or just a crazed psychotic…

Odd that the poisons from the Lo'Grashi's barbs hadn't killed her yet.

It didn't appear that they had even slowed her. Perhaps she wasn't human.

"Crucio!"

The curse hit the girl and she tripped mid-stride. She tumbled to the grass just a few meters from Bella.

The girl shook violently from the curse and much to Bella's disappointed nothing more than a slight grunt escaped the girl's lips.

She so loved to hear them scream.

The Cruciatus was still coursing through her body, but she managed to get to her feet to look Bella square in the eye.

Few had a high enough tolerance for pain that they could withstand the effects of the Cruciatus enough to do anything aside from scream and writhe on the ground. And somehow, this girl was capable of ignoring the pain enough to get to her feet and give Bellatrix a defiant glare.

Most impressive.

It was almost too bad she would have to kill her.

* * *

They followed Oz through the large factory building that had been made into a makeshift barracks for the slew of different demons.

Spike wasn't sure if barracks was the right word, but it was more fitting than any other descriptor he could think of.

These blokes sure seemed to be readying themselves for a war.

But they also seemed to make time for more leisurely pursuits. There was a bar set up at far wall, a few pool tables, dartboards, and a ski-ball machine that looked like it had been jacked from a carnival, or maybe just from a dead carnie.

"There are many half-breeds here. More than I suspected this human wizard could garner. That so many would follow this minor purveyor of magics…perhaps I have underestimated him."

Illyria eyed a Froctor demon as it walked past holding a large mug of what smelled vaguely like cat piss.

"Or perhaps I simply overestimated the intelligence of most half-breeds…"

At least Illyria was keeping her voice down and had the common sense not to spout her musings for all the dumb 'half-breeds' to hear.

"You overestimated the intelligence of half-breeds? As if you held us in such high regard that our actions could possibly make you think less of us…you're very funny Blue."

Oz led them to a corner where a smaller table was set up. He motioned to the group sitting at the table and they quickly left.

Two of the werewolves that had been sitting there, a Chinese girl and older African man, stayed close. The two of them seemed to be standing guard over them.

Spike and Oz took a seat while Illyria, as usual, chose to stand.

"So, Spike. I see you aren't dead. What's that about?"

Spike just laughed.

The kid commented on Spike's miraculous resurrection as though he'd simply been inquiring on the weather or the last episode of _Passions_.

"Yeah. Got better."

Oz eyebrow rose in speculation, "I can see that."

He turned his attention to Illyria, "So who's your friend?"

"This is Leery."

Spike eyed Oz suspiciously. Just because Spike knew the kid didn't mean he was to be trusted.

"I must say I'm a bit miffed to see you here. Didn't peg you for the werewolf revolutionary. Also didn't think that you'd care much for Greyback's desire to exact revenge against wizards and witches….I know things with you and Red ended badly, but that's no reason…"

Oz bristled, "This has nothing to do with Willow."

"Then enlighten me Osborne. What is this about?"

The young werewolf leaned back in his chair, "I'm here for the same reason you are, I imagine."

A petite brunette set several bottles of beer on the table before heading back to the bar. Oz grabbed a bottle. The kid looked kind of stressed out…which was really saying something considering how well he adjusted to most situations.

"So I take it Buffy heard about this and sent you to investigate?

Spike's frowned, but replied drolly, "This has nothing to do with Buffy."

"We came here with the other Slayer. Faith." Illyria stated.

"Faith? I thought she was in Cleveland." Oz rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He had grown a considerable amount of stubble.

Oz must have noticed Spike's surprise that he'd known of Faith's last whereabouts and took a moment to explain.

"I've been in contact with Willow off and on since I left Sunnydale. I also have contacts that live near the Cleveland Hellmouth. Although, I haven't spoken to them recently…I've been busy. It's also how I knew about you being dead, and that you have a soul now."

Spike was impressed, "You sure get around wolfie. So, how did you end up here?"

Oz glanced around and dropped his voice to avoid any of the other demons at the bar hearing him. Luckily they were in a pretty isolated area of the factory and none of the demons close by were all that known for their exceptional hearing.

"After I left Sunnydale I went back to Tibet. Started helping there, teaching new students how to control their wolf so that they might learn some semblance of peace."

He indicated the werewolves standing guard around them as being some of those said students.

"Few months back we started getting a lot of younger kids. More than usual. Mostly it was young kids from wizarding families. Their parents must have heard of us from somewhere, I don't know where. But, thing was some of them weren't looking for a place that could truly help their kids…they were looking for a place to dump them. Like they couldn't be bothered with a kid that was 'damaged goods' or 'infected'."

Oz clenched his fist trying to control his anger on the subject.

The kid's hair seemed to grow longer for a second, but it quickly retracted.

Spike would have to remember not to piss this kid off, as it would probably end up like some messed up version of the Incredible Hulk, with Spike having his limbs forcefully ripped from his body.

And Spike liked his appendages…

Especially his hands. Spike shuddered just thinking about the crazy Slayer, Dana.

"I learned from the kids that they'd been bitten deliberately. They told me about a Greyback. That he'd positioned himself as close as possible to them before his transformation. That he bit them as punishment for their parents…because they'd either slighted him or his 'Dark Lord'. It's one thing if you bite someone accidentally, then you were just being careless. But to do it on purpose?" Oz's jaw tightened, "It makes me think about my younger cousin Jordy- what if the werewolf that bit him had done that…bit him on purpose? Had planned it that way?"

Oz shook his head and looked genuinely disgusted.

"He gives all werewolves a bad name. We aren't all heartless beasts that use our wolf to terrorize others to get what we want. Some of us don't take kindly to lycanthropes using their ability like that. I came here to find a way to stop him and Voldemort."

One of Oz's werewolf buddies flinched back when he said the Dark Lord's the name aloud. He acted as though some invisible force had slapped him across the face. Spike tried his best not to laugh.

"I don't want to see another boy or girl coming to the Kyunglung Temple because of Fenrir Greyback. Not when I can do something to stop it."

Spike realized that this was probably the most he'd ever heard Oz speak at one time. Seemed he turned into a real Chatty Cathy when he got going about something he really cared about.

"Well, Oz. Me and Blue are here to help. I can promise you that."

* * *

The searing pain had been unanticipated. Faith bit down so hard on her tongue she feared she may have bitten it off.

Now her mouth tasted like she'd been sucking on dirty quarters.

Regrettably, the metallic taste of blood was something she was all too familiar with. How the hell vamps thought that shit tasted good was beyond her.

The first words her mother had spoken too her in twenty some years and it was a Cruciatus curse.

It was almost funny…

But in the way that wasn't really that funny at all…just exceedingly painful.

And it figured.

It was pretty much par for the course considering the rest of her key life experiences…she didn't know why the hell she expected this instance to be any different.

Faith forced herself to her feet.

Now her mother was smirking at her, as though Faith held at least a small amount of amusement. Maybe that could buy her some time.

Faith gritted her teeth before speaking.

"That how you get your rocks off, then? Crucio-ing the shit out of people?"

At least that's what she tried to say.

After biting her tongue, she was having trouble enunciating. It probably sounded more like:

_'Da ho you guh yo rugs ugh ten? Grugio-ik da het ow a eep-el?'_

She spat some of the blood out of her mouth.

Faith needed to keep talking and maintain her mother's attention, so that Andromeda could recover from the Cruciatus.

"I think that might be a sure sign of some sort of mental imbalance. I should know. I have talked to my fair share of shrinks."

_Mostly court appointed. Thank you, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation._

Bella's brow furrowed as she watched Faith intently, like she was searching for something only she could see.

Didn't look like she was finding it though.

It was clear Bella would not be as easy to best as the pudgy wizard she'd just finished fighting. Faith wasn't sure if she should be disappointed or proud.

Bellatrix's wand twitched.

"Who are you? What… are you?"

Faith could tell her the truth for all the good that would do. Her mother probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

"My name's Faith Lehane. As far as what I am? Is that some sort of philosophical question? Cause I've never really been particularly introspective…"

Luckily, her tongue was being a bit more cooperative and her words were a bit more decipherable.

The blood was also no longer pouring into her mouth quite as freely. Now if only the gashes on her head would show the same courtesy. Maybe the demon's barbs had some sort of anticoagulant in them.

Her mother pursed her lips, clearly annoyed by Faith's lack of cooperation.

"I could make you tell me."

Bellatrix's hair blew behind her forebodingly as the wind started to pick up. No doubt it was about to rain soon.

"But, while I admit your pain tolerance and fighting ability is curious. I'm afraid I have other important things more deserving of my time." She eyed Andromeda who was now crawling to her feet.

Faith scoffed. Seemed her mother didn't even care enough to torture her. Of course maybe if she knew…

"Bella."

Andromeda was standing with her wand pointed out shakily toward her sister.

Aunt Andy sure had a crazed look in her eye.

Bellatrix scowled and took a step back so she could point her wand back at Andromeda, but still keep Faith in her field of vision.

Faith had no idea were Nymphadora was now. So it didn't seem likely they would get any help on that front.

It did make her curious to know just where Tonks was…hopefully she was okay.

She liked Dora and the last thing she wanted was another death of someone she considered to be a friend…

Maybe she should just stop having them altogether. Might solve the problem.

But, while Faith didn't see Dora anymore she could sense that something was approaching off in the distance.

After a few moments she could hear the cackling of a large group. Likely more demons at the Death Eaters beck and call. Some of them were vampires she could tell. The rest she couldn't place, not unless she turned around to look, but then her mother might just kill her when she wasn't looking.

Or her mother might kill Andromeda…

They were at an impasse and Faith certainly wasn't going to make the first move. She couldn't let her do anything to Andromeda, but she just couldn't bring herself to attack her own mother.

It was stupid, and Faith knew it.

Bellatrix certainly had no issue with cursing Faith insensible.

Her mother attempted to disarm Andromeda with a wordless incantation that Faith could only assume had been an _Expelliarmus_, but Andromeda was quicker than her sister and dodged the spell.

She returned a Confundus charm with a flick of her wrist.

Her aunt displayed an alacrity Faith would have never guessed the older woman possessed. She seemed like a nice little stay at home mom. Not the hardened warrior type.

Faith supposed it was a speed and ability bore out of determination and a deep-seeded rage. Which was never a good combination where magic was concerned.

Bellatrix clearly had not expected her sister's sudden transformation and the spell hit her on full force. Her eyes glazed over as she swayed and stumbled, but still managed to stay on her feet.

Another spell escaped Andy lips and Faith could hardly believe Andromeda had said it.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Faith's reaction was instantaneous. As soon as the words left Andromeda's mouth she'd leapt into action.

She could not lose her mother.

Faith didn't care if her mom was a satanic uber-bitch...

Her legs pushed off the ground like she'd been standing on a spring board. She closed the distance to her mom in a fraction of a second. Faith could feel the spell as it past just inches from her right shoulder.

That would have been a great ending to her life, wouldn't it just?

Faith Lehane: she died saving the life of her homicidal mother. Only to have her mother kill her aunt, cousin, and even more innocent people after that. Way to waste your life, Slayer. Flippin' brilliant of you.

Faith and her mother rolled several feet before stopping short of the cobble walk. Both still had their wands clutched in their respective hands. Faith found herself very close to her mother's face and could see her mother's sunken visage more clearly than before.

Azkaban must have really done a number on her, not quite as bad a Sirius…but Faith could still tell.

She was so much different than she remembered and it wasn't just because Bellatrix didn't know who she was.

Her eyes had lost a shine that Faith could remember clearly from her dreams and from all the pictures. It was like she'd lost a part of her soul.

Faith felt a tug at her heart at the thought. She felt a mixture of guilt and hope.

_That missing part…could it be her?_

Apparently some of her emotions must have played across her face because Bella was staring up at her with sheer bewilderment.

"Wh-why? Who are you?"

Bella's voice was quieter than before, and Faith thought for a second that maybe she knew.

Then her mother shoved Faith back and came to her feet shakily, leaving Faith motionless on the ground and dispelling her notion a quickly as it had come.

Gravity seemed be pulling at Faith a bit more than usual.

So heavy. So much so that she couldn't get her legs to lift her body. This whole experience had been quite trying…maybe that was the reason she was so tired…

Bellatrix pointed her wand back at Faith.

Faith took her eyes off her mother and looked back to Andromeda who was currently staring daggers at both Bella and her.

Great.

Her slow wheedling into Andy's good graces had been obliterated in mere seconds.

But what the hell had Andromeda expected, really? Bellatrix was her mother…

Faith screamed and fell backward.

Her head started throbbing so much she couldn't think clearly. She shut her eyes in an attempt to subdue the pain.

Her mom was saying something now, presumably to her, but all it sounded like was one of those teachers from the _Peanuts_ cartoons.

"Wah wah wa wah wa….wah-wah?"

_That's a good question mother… Don't know the answer to that right now. But let me take a second to vomit and I'll get back to you…_

The ache turned into a large thundering in the back of her skull, like some one was using her head as a conga drum.

It became so loud that she couldn't even think about anything else.

Faith crouched into the fetal position and clutched her head in her hands.

She could hear someone whimpering….and Faith was pretty sure it was her.

The noise was unrelenting, a roaring cacophony that blocked out everything else.

But it wasn't thunder at all …. and it wasn't even coming from inside her head. What was it and why did it sound like it was getting even louder?

It did sound familiar, but her brain was having trouble focusing.

Faith pried her eyes open just in time to see a colossal motorcycle spin out slightly as it halted in front of her. Its engine sputtered, and then continued its loud howl.

"Wha-?"

Faith felt a hand grab the back of her jacket and toss her into the sidecar.

"I got you." A voice assured her softly.

The person seated atop the bike came into focus.

It was Sirius.

She sighed lightly before passing out as the motorcycle lifted off the ground and into the night sky.

* * *

Faith woke to find herself in a bright sterile looking room.

She groaned.

She felt like she'd gotten ran over with a bus and had gotten a hangover to boot.

The place she found herself in had the vague feeling of a hospital, but there were no machines, needles, or IVs…

Hopefully this time she hadn't been in a coma for months…losing that amount of time was not an experience she wanted to repeat.

And eventhough this hospital was lacking a lot of the things that made her hate the regular ones, she really had no desire to stick around.

A hand stopped her from getting up.

"You need your rest dear. You shouldn't move."

There was an older plump woman watching her carefully as she came around the bed and handed her a glass of something.

She took it.

"What is this?"'

It smelled disgusting and had the consistency of something you might find in a backed-up septic tank.

"It's the antidote to the Lo'Grashi poison you were infected with, dear. We didn't have any in stock here at St. Mungo's- I'm ashamed to say. But the Lo'Grashi isn't ever seen outside of New Zealand, so we hadn't any cause to keep any. Until now, of course."

Faith surmised the demons she'd fought were these Lo'Grashi things this woman was going on about.

"But luckily for you, Mister Severus Snape had some in his private collection which he brought here soon after you were admitted. If he hadn't, you most certainly would have died."

The woman pushed the glass toward Faith's mouth and she reluctantly drank it. It tasted just about as good as it smelled, but she forced herself to down the whole glass anyway.

"Where is everyone? What happened?"

The woman took the glass from her and nodded to the door.

"I believe there is a man outside waiting. It's been almost two days. All your friends have been taking shifts outside your door."

The woman smiled amiably, "I'll tell him you're awake."

The woman left and after a few seconds Sirius Black rushed into the room.

"You're awake!" Sirius was relieved. He came over to the bed side and hugged her.

"The medi-witches here were astounded you even survived a minute with the amount of poison those two barbs injected directly into your head." He smiled weakly, "I was worried."

Faith's eyes widened. Why were so many people hugging her lately? She never thought of herself as particularly huggable. First it was Uncle Ted, now Sirius…

"What happened to Ted? Is he okay?" Faith blanched after remembering his unmoving body in the grass.

Sirius took a seat next to her before speaking.

"He was injected with considerably less poison than you were. The Lo'Grashi just clipped his arm, but his reaction was considerably more violent than yours. It was touch and go for a while… but he'll make it. Snape's potion seems to be working well enough. Why Snape had the potion in the first place, I don't know." His face darkened.

"Dromeda was pretty incoherent when Kreacher came to Dissaparate her and Ted out of danger, she was bawling and screaming…"

"Kreacher?" Faith repeated.

"Yes," Sirius grinned, "I want you to know, that I have been treating him better, like you asked me too. Especially now, seeing as he's saved both Dromeda and Ted's lives. But Kreacher is still…difficult. I don't think I will ever like him much- would be asking a lot of me, I'm afraid. But, he did do as I asked and did it quite well. So that's something. He wasn't too keen on saving Andromeda and Ted though, as you can imagine."

That made sense, sending in a house-elf to get them out. They could apparate through pretty much any magical barrier.

Faith nodded, "I imagine so. What about Nymphadora, is she alright?"

"She was pretty banged up, but Moody and Remus helped her fend off Rodolphus and some dark creatures before flying out of there. She's actually in the other room waiting for her father to wake up."

Sirius pulled a large basket that had been sitting on the floor by her bed.

"Molly sent this by yesterday for you."

Faith took it from him. It was full of homemade cookies, snacks, and candies. She pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and devoured it. It definitely helped get the septic tank taste out of her mouth.

"Wicked. Next time I see that woman I'm gonna make out with her so hard…"

"Somehow I think Arthur might take offense…" Sirius joked.

Faith grabbed another cookie and set the basket on the table, "Oh, he would so love it. All men are obsessed with that stuff. Not sure why. Must be that whole desiring of the unattainable or something…or maybe it just makes them think of threesomes. But, I suppose you would know better than me right? Seeing as you are a guy…"

"Thank you for noticing. Besides, Arthur is actually a distant cousin of yours so I don't think he'd enjoy seeing you snogging his wife…"

She brushed away the crumbs from her sheets, "Geez, how many cousins do I have? This is getting a bit ridiculous…"

"Most of the pure blood families are inter-related. So, quite a few actually." Sirius shrugged.

"So, we're all a 'happy' inbred family? Nice to know my blood line is the wizard equivalent of the cast of _Deliverance_..."

Sirius just nodded, but he clearly didn't recognize the reference.

Faith really needed to start learning some more wizard pop culture, so that she could use it in conversations.

"Raven and the other Slayers were really something too. You should have seen it. Although, I suppose you do all the time considering. Moody wasn't even going to let them come because some of them weren't even fourteen years old yet, but Raven was pretty adamant. It was the first time I've ever seen Mad-Eye back down on something like that. Alastor intimidated? Heh! And by a small blonde girl no less!"

Faith had to agree that it would have been funny to see. She knew first hand how frightening Raven could be when she wanted something bad enough.

"I'm glad they came though. Those girls ripped through the vampires and dark creatures like a Welsh Green through a mountain of flobberworms! You should have seen the look on Bellatrix's face!"

"Yeah. My girls are really good at what they do."

Faith's shoulders drooped remembering her introduction to her mother.

Sirius's happy reverie was broken when he saw the change in her disposition.

"Faith? You okay?"

She didn't respond and just fiddled with the sheets. Faith wondered silently if both her parents had made it out alright.

"Andromeda told me what happened."

His words were slow and measured. Clearly he was trying to choose his words carefully…for once.

"What I did?"

She knew exactly what he was talking about, but chose to be evasive anyway.

"That you saved Bellatrix from her killing curse."

Sirius sighed, "I know why you did it. And while it did save Andromeda from having to come to terms with taking her own sister's life…I just don't want to see you to sacrifice yourself for Bellatrix like that. You could have died Faith! And what would that have accomplished, exactly?

Faith scowled, "And what would you have had me do Sirius? Let my mother die? Before I ever got to really know her? Before she ever got to really know me?"

He chewed on his bottom lip, "Look Faith. I know that this whole situation is difficult for you. But, if it comes down to you or her…please place some value on your own life. I do. Raven does, so does Tonks, the Weasleys, Spike, Remus, a lot of people. You have so much to offer the world…. and Bellatrix, well frankly, she has nothing to offer anyone but death. She's too far gone for salvation of any kind. As if she ever was salvageable in the first place."

She didn't answer and looked in the other direction.

"Just…" he sighed again, "Please try and remember that Bella is not the only one who ever cared about you. You've got friends. And you've got other family."

After that Sirius had left. Tonks came by later and they talked for a while before she went back to check on her dad.

Then, Remus came for a while…then left to check on Tonks.

Severus Snape came to see her too, which was pretty unexpected.

He'd stood at the doorway for a while and didn't know she had noticed his arrival.

She'd been reading a copy of the Quibbler. But now she was just pretending to read it and was instead watching him shuffle around the entranceway for about five minutes.

Finally, she dropped the paper.

"Hey, Sev. Did you want something, or were you just admiring the craftsmanship of the door jamb?"

Snape's face promptly changed to its standard scowl.

"Hello, Faith. I just came to see how well my potion is countering the Lo'Grashi toxin. I see it's worked quite well, seeing as you aren't a corpse."

Faith could tell he was full of shit and that wasn't the only reason he'd come, but she wasn't going to push the issue.

"Yeah. Thanks, ya know, for umm… saving my life..." She scrunched her brow, "I guess."

Faith shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"So, why did you have that potion in the first place? The medi-witch said that the Lo'Grashi usually only stays in New Zealand….but that you just happened to have some…"

Severus took a step farther into the room, "I am a Death Eater, Faith. Being undercover gives me certain insights. I knew of several different foreign creatures that have joined the Dark Lord and several have fairly noxious characteristics, including the Lo'Grashi. In anticipation of an event such as this one, I prepared several different potions to counteract them."

Faith was impressed, "Good call."

Snape nodded, "Thank you."

"Knew we kept you around for something." She winked.

Severus looked annoyed again and left considerably more quickly than he'd come.

Now that Faith was left alone, she started to realize just who tired she truly was.

Apparently, two days straight of sleep hadn't been quite enough.

Faith's eyelids drooped.

She still felt terrible and some more sleep sounded like a very very good idea.

* * *

_**"You think you know…What's to come… What you are…You haven't even begun."**_

_Faith stood in a huge desert, miles from any discernible civilization._

_"What's that, B?"_

_She approached her sister slayer who was standing at the top of a small dune of sand. The petite blonde simply smiled as she patted down her cherry covered sundress._

_Buffy shrugged, "Just something I heard once. Annoyingly vague, isn't it?"_

_Faith was only half paying attention. What she wanted to know was how the hell, while standing in the middle of a freaking desert of all places, she could feel so damn cold._

_"I guess. So you come to impart your wisdom on the lowly masses, that it?" Faith shivered._

_Faith had just noticed she was wearing the little pink button-up dress that Wilkins had made her wear all those years ago._

_She hated dresses. But Faith didn't mind this one, just for the simple reason that he'd liked it._

_"Lowly? Certainly not. You have a world of power under that cute little pink number of yours. 'Lowly' doesn't even factor into it. Never did. Just want to see you do what's right. See that you do right by us. It's not just about you anymore, little girl of discord. Lot of people are counting on you."_

_"Even me." Buffy confessed softly._

_Faith's anger surged and didn't even notice the fact that Buffy had admitted to needing her._

_"And you're going to help me do that then? Do what's right? Cause, hell, clearly I'm incapable of doing the right thing without you! God, B! I get it! I screwed up back in Sunnydale! But, I don't need you watching over me anymore."_

_Faith crossed her arms as she looked out to the sandstorm brewing on the horizon. She didn't have time for another of B's arrogant speeches._

_Buffy chuckled, "Gosh, hostility much?"_

_Faith hoped that storm wasn't heading their way, it looked like a doozy._

_Buffy came to stand right in front of her, blocking her view of the coming storm._

_"Who exactly is it that you're so angry with? Me? Yourself? Everyone? Or maybe that?"_

_Buffy turned to the storm as lightning slashed across the night sky._

_"What was it you told me once? Ah yes, now I remember... 'Miles to go'."_

_Faith frowned._

_"But I'm already sleeping."_

_Buffy looked around at their surroundings, "You call this sleeping? Seems more like waiting."_

_"Something's coming." Faith said._

_"Got that right sister. And you better believe it's something big. I expect nothing less for your big solo debut. A smash hit. Emphasis on the smashing. And the hitting. You gonna be ready?"_

_"Of course I am." Faith was defensive at the accusation that she wouldn't be._

_Buffy remained unconvinced._

_"This is a dream Faith. There's no reason to lie. No one to impress here. Least of all me."_

_The wind blew around her and Faith was having trouble staying grounded._

_Buffy looked unaffected, like the storm wasn't even there._

_"And it was a trick question by the way. No such thing as ready. Not where this is concerned."_

_Faith ignored the storm and tried to focus on the petite blonde whose image blurred in front of her._

_"Were you ever ready?"_

_Buffy smirked playfully._

_"Silly monkey. Were you even listening?"_

_She looked up at the thunder overhead calmly._

_"No one is ever ready. I'm certainly no exception. And sorry to disappoint you…but neither are you."_

_The storm rolled over with a deafening howl and then everything went black. _

* * *


	21. The Plot Thickens

**The Road to Redemption**

_A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I do read them all and I really like knowing what you guys think of the story. So thanks. :) This chapter is sort of short, but I felt it worked better separate from what I am writing next so I decided to post it. The next chapter should be done soon as I am house sitting for 2 weeks with nothing to do so you can look forward to that._

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_To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.  
-Bertrand Russell_

* * *

"This is even worse than wearing a dress…I look ridiculous."

Faith grimaced and looked down at her dark green robes.

"It's not that bad. I sort of like them."

Raven spun around and the blue fabric of her robes swayed gracefully, "These are way better than the last ones I wore. That's for sure."

She spun some more and admired her self in the mirror.

"I feel like I'm playing dress up or something." The older slayer pulled at the loose fabric.

Then Faith had a devious thought. "Maybe I could go commando underneath. Spice things up. Give the boys at Hogwarts a little show."

The elderly shopkeeper, Malkins probably, gave Faith a look of bewilderment and once they paid she rushed off to help another customer just to get away from them. Faith grabbed the bags of robes they had purchased and they headed to the door.

When they left Madam Malkin's they stepped into a fairly empty street. There were a few families in Diagon Alley. Classes were starting soon and all the kiddies needed their supplies. They all looked ready to bolt at the first sign of anything suspicious.

Even more shops were shut down than last time Faith had been here. Several large posters were set up everywhere with security recommendations and ways to protect themselves against attack.

There were also smaller posters displaying known Death Eaters, including her parents.

She avoided looking at those.

"I don't know how Dumbledore got me to agree to this. I still think he slipped something into my pumpkin juice. Sneaky bastard."

Faith pushed past a group of older teenage boys who were looking her and Raven like a piece of meat. She just kept walking, but Raven seemed to pass them a bit slower than necessary.

They walked by a news stand and Faith glanced at the stack newspapers.

**He Who Must Not Be Named Strikes Again! Is anyone safe?**

Under the headline there was a picture of the Dark Mark swirling overhead a tiny house. Apparently Voldemort's Death Eaters had killed a muggle-born family last week. There were a few sentences that mentioned the attack on the Tonks' house three weeks prior. It said that Andy and Ted had gone into hiding and no one had seen them since.

Faith had of course.

This morning actually.

They were staying at Grimmauld Place for the time being, which as good as a hiding place as any. As Sirius could personally attest too.

She and Andy had patched things up well enough. Faith had saved Ted's life after all when she'd caught that knife. Andromeda acknowledged the fact that she hadn't been thinking all that clearly when she tried to curse Bellatrix. She had thought Ted was dead so it was understandable really.

Andy was still torn about her sister, she didn't want her dead…but she did want to stop feeling like a target just because she happend to love the wrong sort of person according to her sister's and other's standards.

"Well, I sure can't wait! I mean did you see those boys back there? Freakin' hot. I'm gonna be knee deep in cute wizards. And British ones at that!" Raven swooned.

They were going to be spending some time at Hogwarts. They'd be leaving on the train with the Hogwarts students tomorrow. Faith still had a lot she needed to be taught and that was the perfect place in which to do it.

The professors wouldn't have the time to come to Grimmauld Place with school starting, so Dumbledore thought it best she just come to them.

Raven was coming too.

Luckily the girl didn't have to worry about going back to high school like most of the girls back in Cleveland. She had gotten her GED a few months after she was called so that school wouldn't get in the way of her slaying.

Faith never bothered with the GED. She didn't think it mattered. She had the ultimate job security. Faith would be a Slayer until she was dead and the demons and forces of darkness weren't going anywhere.

Dumbledore would be telling the students and their parents that Faith and Raven were 'world class vampire hunters' from America. They were being brought in to help combat the growing number of dark creatures in the Forbidden Forest.

And that wasn't really a lie... per se.

Slayers were the best hunters there were, and they really were going to be patrolling the Forbidden Forest. It just wasn't the only reason they were going to be there.

Dumbledore seemed really pleased with himself about that idea. He was essentially killing two birds with one...or two Slayers.

He didn't want to tell the students and families that Faith and Raven were vampire Slayers, as it was a pretty common belief that Slayers weren't real.

Not only that, even if they were recognized as the genuine article, the legends the wizard's were familiar with implied that Slayers were dangerous, feral, and little better than the creatures they hunted.

The parents probably wouldn't want them around their children. Apparently people had been really pissed when they learned Lupin, who was teaching Defense of the Dark Arts at the time, was a werewolf.

Pricks.

"I'm happy for you Rave, really. But I'm also going to be knee deep in those same cute teenage wizards. Which isn't going to be quite as fun for me. And let's not even talk about the even younger ones. I mean, I could barely handle the potentials back in Sunnydale. Just thinking about having so many little boys and girls around me all the time…. Gugh."

Faith shuddered.

"I'm also gonna have to train myself not to swear and be so damn vulgar all the time...we both know that will never happen."

Raven laughed.

"Yeah, that will be difficult for you. But hey, look on the brightside Faith. When you are having trouble coping, you can always go to Snape for a little support." She winked.

"Among other things."

Faith glowered at her insinuation.

"What are you talking about? I would sooner stab my self in the eye with my own wand."

Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Whatever you say, Faith."

"Damn straight."

* * *

"Knight to F3." Sirius took a sip of his tea.

He and Remus were sitting in the drawing room playing a game of wizard's chess.

The room along with the rest of the house looked completely different than it had weeks ago. Kreacher had spent quite a bit of time cleaning everything in the house right down to the upstairs attic.

Sirius was amazed the old house-elf still remembered how to clean after so many years of lethargy.

Remus examined the board for a minute or so before deciding on his move.

"Queen to C4."

His queen moved to the space and took out her sword out and sliced Sirius's bishop in twain.

"Bugger."

Sirius studied the board in resignation. Remus was beating the pants off him, which was surprising since he clearly had other things on his mind.

He set down his cup before folding his arms over his chest. He leaned back in his chair to look at Lupin.

"So you going to tell me what's going on with you and Tonks?"

Remus nearly fell off his chair.

"What? How did you-…?

"Faith figured it out. And I'm really kicking myself for not seeing it before. It was painfully obvious really. I mean both of you have been walking around here like Inferi for months now. So, what's the problem? Why aren't you two together?"

Lupin gave him an irritated look.

"Why do you think, Padfoot?"

Sirius just sighed. "Moony…come off it. Tonks knows what you are. She can live with it. Why can't you?"

Lupin got up out of his seat, the game forgotten.

"I just…can't, okay? And I'm too old for her anyway." Remus rubbed his temples.

"Too old? You're- I mean we're not old! We're…uh… seasoned. Yeah, that's it."

That at least got a smile on Lupin's face.

"Okay fine. But it doesn't change the fact that right now isn't a good time for such things. With the Dark Lord's return…it's just not."

Sirius was about to retort to tell him he was just being stubborn, but of voice interrupted him.

"Is it ever a bad time to get laid?"

Faith waltzed into the room her hands full of shopping bags dressed in a pair of green robes. She set her bags on the drawing table. Raven walked by and said hello before running up to her room.

"In fact, when shit is hitting the fan that is the best time to get your freak on. Takes the edge off."

Lupin just sputtered and turned a nice shade of red.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Sirius laughed lightly.

"Yes, I have an eloquence few can master." Faith teased, "But seriously Remus. Get off your ass."

"It's hardly that simple, Faith."

Faith shrugged, "Fine. Be miserable. That's your prerogative."

She nodded toward the fireplace, "So when are Spike and Illyria getting here?"

Sirius looked at the clock, "Should be in about ten minutes."

Spike and Illyria were scheduled to floo back here once every week to report anything they thought might be useful on Voldemort's movements.

"Alright. I'm gonna go change and be right back."

* * *

Faith took off the robes the first chance she got. The things just felt weird to her.

She put on a clean wife-beater and a pair of jeans and jogged back downstairs just as Spike stepped out of the fireplace.

"Hey, Spike. How goes the wonderful world of espionage?"

The vampire dusted himself off and moved out of the way as Illyria came out of the fireplace.

"Boring as shit, most days. But we have learned some things...nothing too Earth shattering though."

There was a third person to exit the fireplace that made Faith grin from ear to ear.

"Oz!"

He smiled and came over to shake her hand.

"Hey, Faith. So, I hear you're a witch now?"

Faith smiled, "Sure am. You lookin for one to replace, Red? Cause I gotta say you are lookin good." She looked him up and down, "That half-shaven look is totally distinguished."

"Uh. Sorta too busy for that sort of thing, Faith. But if I'll keep you in mind if that changes." He said politely.

She knew he wasn't all that interested, but then again neither was she. Faith was just making conversation.

Faith pouted, "Aw…you're just as bad as Remus. You werewolves and your plight of celibacy."

Lupin glared at her, "Can't you just let it go?"

"No. Not really. I'm nothing if not persistent."

Oz looked at the other werewolf, "What? You trying to get into his pants too? And here I thought we had a real solid connection. You wound me, Faith. I don't think I will ever be capable of love again."

He gave her a fake look of hurt, but then he went right back to his normal stoic self.

Faith smiled. She had missed Oz. It was good to see him.

"No, don't worry. You're the only werewolf for me. He likes my cousin, but he's too stricken about his condition to make the moves on her. Maybe you can talk to him?"

Oz's eyebrows rose, "I don't think I'm really the best person to offer valuable relationship advice. In case you hadn't noticed my last relationship didn't turn out particularly well."

Lupin perked up at that, "Why? What happened?"

Oz remained impassive, "It's personal."

Faith was surprised by Oz's revelation.

"You really haven't been with anyone since Willow?"

"No."

Faith drew in an uncomfortable breath.

"Anyway..."

"So are you going to introduce us or not, Faith?" Sirius smiled jovially as he stood to greet Oz.

"Oh right. Sorry. Oz, this is my cousin Sirius Black and that's Remus Lupin. Guys, this is Oz. Met him a few years back at the Sunnydale Hellmouth."

They greeted each other.

When Oz went to shake Remus's hand he smirked, "Your name is Remus Lupin? Nice bit of irony, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Lupin didn't seem sure what to make of the shorter werewolf.

Spike took a seat on the couch with a sigh, "We can't stay long. Greyback's expecting us. All the grunts have a meeting with Voldemort himself. Lucky us."

"So wadda ya got for us?" Faith took the seat Sirius had been sitting in.

Oz took the lead, "Greyback's got roughly 150 werewolves loyal to him at the moment, maybe 75 demons last I counted. But, the numbers are growing all the time. I've got twelve werewolves on the inside, not including myself. We try and get at least one of us on every mission, but its hard to do without drawing suspicion."

He leaned against the drawing table.

"One of my students, Tenzing, just returned a few days ago from New Zealand. The Death Eaters were doing something there. She didn't see what because they wouldn't let any of the werewolves or demons close enough. They were having them stand guard over a large temple carved right in the middle of a mountain side. Whatever it was they were doing in there, it was big. Tenzi said a lot of the Death Eaters looked almost…scared about it."

"Something that scared bad guys? So that's either really good for us…or apocalyptically bad." Faith said.

She picked up one of the knights from the chess board and tossed it around in her hand. The horse whinnied and the armored knight flailed helplessly as it was flung from one hand to the other.

"New Zealand? Isn't that where those creatures came from?" Sirius asked remembering the incident weeks before.

"The Lo'Grashi?" Faith rubbed where the gashes on her head had been, "Yeah."

"The plot thickens." Spike said drolly, "Tell them about the other thing, Oz. About the prisoner."

"Prisoner?" Lupin asked.

"Greyback had me and a few others come to a large mansion two days ago. I don't know where, they took us by portkey. There was a large cellar where they were keeping a prisoner locked up. According to Greyback they've had him for months under constant guard. He was in bad shape when we got there. Too beaten up to speak. But he was still alive. One of the vampires who'd been there before said that he called himself 'the Groosalugg'."

Oz looked to Illyria and she spoke up.

"Winifred Burkle knew this man. She called him Groo. He was a warrior from the hell dimension Pylea. A place that Fred spent a great deal of time. None of it pleasant. But, why the dark wizard would capture him is a mystery to me. He is nothing but a simpleton, a foot soldier…what they could hope to gain from keeping him, I do not know."

"Any idea about the mansion? Maybe we could get him out of there, so he could tell us why they captured him in the first place. Give us a clue what Voldemort is doing?"

Faith set down the chess piece down and it stumbled queasily before going back to its spot on the board.

"Mansion? Well, most of the more affluent Death Eaters have one…might take some time to find out which one. Snape may know. But even if we figured that out…getting in and rescuing him would be a problem." Remus supplied.

"That's true, who knows how many Death Eaters we'd be walking in on. Maybe you could get Illyria in there to guard him the next chance you get? See if he's in the mood to talk to a familiar-ish face?"

"It's a thought." Spike said as he got up.

Spike, Oz and Illyria approached the fireplace getting ready to leave.

"Alright. Take care of yourself guys. Oz… it was nice seeing you." Faith stood.

The werewolf nodded, "You too, Faith. I'm glad that you're with us."

His words seemed to imply a bit more than that he was glad she was 'with them' on this particular occasion, but that she was on their side at all.

"Yeah. Me too, Oz. Me too."

_Reviews are nice._


	22. Throw Slytherin from the Train

**The Road to Redemption**

_A/N: Thanks for all your reviews and favs, etc. I truly appreciate all the feedback. I'm especially happy about the reception of this story as it is my first here. It makes me geared up about other stories I may right after this one. :) _

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_The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!"  
- Jack Kerouac_

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"Ya know, for a Wizard school I figured that getting there would be something a bit more impressive than a train ride…"

Faith stepped out of the taxi in front of King's Cross Station and dragged her large suitcase out of the car's trunk. It hit the pavement with a thud. Raven and Sirius had came around from the other side of the taxi. She looked up at the entrance way to the Station. Several kids were being quickly ushered in the door by their parents.

"Oh, just you wait. You'll be impressed soon enough. That's a promise." Sirius took one of her bags from the back seat of the cab and then it drove off. "Alright, here are your tickets."

Sirius handed the two tickets to Faith and they entered the train station. He led them through the station toward a barrier that was situated between platform 9 and 10.

"Now, you have to run through this wall to get to the Hogwart's Express platform on the other side." Sirius explained.

"You're just trying to make me look stupid. You want me to run face first into brick wall, just so you can have a laugh at me before I go." Faith looked at him suspiciously and eyed the brick warily.

"Yes. That would be quite funny. But I'm being honest. I can go first if that will ease your suspicion?" Sirius offered.

Faith eyes the wall again.

"It would actually."

So he obliged. As Sirius neared the wall and he disappeared right before he would have slammed into it. Raven approached the wall curiously, "Blimey."

Faith stared at her oddly to which Raven simply shrugged, "Just thought I'd try it out.…"

With all the things Faith had been through in the past few months not to mention her experiences as a Slayer, she figured all this magic stuff would be old hat by now, but this was just….

"Wow."

After following behind Sirius, Faith looked on wide eyed at the large black and scarlet train that was sitting in the large station. The large platform of 9 and ¾ was full of children of varying ages. Almost all had families seeing them off. Most of the parents looked worried about leaving their kids, Faith even saw a few mothers bawling their eyes out. It was probably all the commotion about Voldemort and worries that something might happen to their kids. Although, according to the people she had spoken too, Hogwarts was probably the safest place for them to be.

"How the hell did they get this place in here?"

Sirius laughed, "You haven't seen anything yet. Just wait till you get to Hogwarts."

Faith noticed quite a few people that were not even trying to be subtle as they gawked at her cousin. Sirius had been cleared months ago, but people were still freaked by the idea that he'd essentially come back from the dead. The Ministry had bought the story that the Veil hadn't actually killed him, but they didn't really have to time to push the issue. Voldemort and his Death Eaters consumed most of their time, so they didn't care to ask many questions. Bigger fish to fry.

Sirius could go wherever he wanted, sure, but it didn't stop people from staring and looking at him like he was about to kill them all. Faith could relate to that.

"Look there's Harry!" Sirius pointed down to the other end of the platform.

Harry was standing with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and a couple of dour looking wizards in dark uniforms. Sirius rushed up to them. The wizards in the dark robes twitched when they saw him, just barely restraining themselves from drawing their wands. He gave Harry a quick hug and greeted the others while Faith and Raven approached hauling their bags.

Hermione, Ginny, and Ron left to get on the train, but Harry had pulled Sirius and Mr. Weasley off to the side to speak with them about something.

Faith tried to listen in on their conversation, but they were talking in hushed tones to soft for her to pick up completely. She did make out something about "Draco", an "Invisibility Cloak", and "Borgin and Burkes". None of which really made sense to her. Harry seemed concerned about whatever it was. While Mr. Weasley looked skeptical and seemed to just be indulging the boy, Sirius seemed to be giving it a bit more thought.

That name 'Draco', she recognized it from somewhere.

Wasn't Narcissa's son named Draco? Faith remembered the name being beneath her aunt's name on the tapestry back at Grimmauld Place.

Or was it Drago?

No wait, Drago was that Russian boxer from that Rocky movie. Faith giggled to herself at the idea that her cousin was a beefy Russian with roid rage.

"….them, dear?"

Faith had been so distracted trying to hear Harry, that she hadn't even noticed Molly had been talking to her.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you could watch out for them, my kids as well as Harry and Hermione? They are always getting into such trouble…and with You-Know-Who. I just...I want them safe."

The two formally dressed wizards shifted uncomfortably at Molly's display of concern and tried to make it seem like they hadn't been listening in.

"I'll do my best, Molly." Faith assured her.

Molly sighed and drew her into a hug, "Thank you Faith. Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Mrs. Weasley also gave Raven a hug, causing the girl to squeak a little because she hadn't been expecting it.

Harry, Sirius and Mr. Weasley came back to join them just as the train whistled indicating its imminent departure. Faith and Raven said their goodbyes and quickly hopped onto the train. Sirius had made Faith promise to owl him at least once a week or he would be pounding down Hogwarts door.

Faith had mockingly replied, "Whatever you say, _dad._".

Sirius had folded his arms and smirked, "If you were my kid, I'd give you a whoopin."

"Ooh, kinky. Keep talking to me like that and Phineas is going to get those ideas of his again." She winked playfully.

Sirius had laughed at that.

The train let loose another shrill whistle and the engine churned loudly. Faith followed Raven farther inside the train. Harry was still speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and had to run to make the train before it started to leave.

Faith had watched as Sirius yelled out to Harry, telling him he was going to be spending Christmas at Grimmauld Place. He'd also said that he was going owl him another two-way mirror, so that an 'incident' like the one at the Ministry didn't happen again.

Harry looked a little abashed at that. Sirius looked as though he'd realized just as the train was departing how accusatory that must have sounded, but before he could offer any sort of rebuttal the train left the station. Several students had their heads craned out of their compartments staring at Harry as he went to find a seat with his friends.

Before they'd gotten to the station, Sirius had asked her to watch out for Harry and to tell him straight away if anything looked amiss. That was probably going to be a rather large chore, as she had a feeling that trouble followed that kid around like a moth to a frickin flame.

"Let's go find a seat then." Raven hooked her arm around Faith's and pulled her along the corridor. Eventually, they found an empty compartment near the back.

Faith lay across a row of seats on the one side of the compartment with a loud sigh. Raven had sat across from her near the window and pulled out her latest Anne Rice novel. Faith made a face.

"Why do you read that crap?"

The blonde just shrugged, "I dunno. They're fun to read I guess. Especially since I know the truth about vampires. And just so you know, if I ever meet a vampire that looks like Brad Pitt… I'll probably let him bite me."

"Right, got it. If I see any, I'll make sure to stake them before you can manage to throw yourself at them like a little fangirl." Raven sighed wistfully and went back to her book.

Faith shut her eyes letting the beat of the train engine lull her to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep; all Faith knew was that she'd been woken from a rather strange dream about cute fuzzy bunnies with high powered explosives.

She worried about herself sometimes.

There was a knock at the sliding door and a flustered looking girl stumbled in. She was holding a scroll tied with a purple ribbon in her left hand.

"I, uh, I'm supposed to give this to a Miss Faith Lehane, the vamp…vampire hunter."

The girl gawked in wonder as she handed the scroll to Faith.

"Thanks."

The girl left and Faith turned the parchment over in her hand.

"What's that?" Raven asked from her spot at the window.

She undid the ribbon and unraveled the scroll.

_Miss Faith Lehane,_

_I would be honored if you could join me in compartment C for a bite of lunch._

_Sincerely,  
Professor H.E.F. Slughorn _

Raven smirked, "Seems you have a gentleman caller."

Faith gagged, "No way. I saw this guy when we got on the train. He's got a bigger belly than a pregnant woman with sextuplets. But…" she stood up, "I do admit I am a sucker for muttonchops."

"So you gonna go?"

She shrugged, "Meh, why not?"

Faith left Raven to her book and made her way down compartment C. When she finally made it, she noticed the invitation wasn't a singular one, as there were quite a few kids seated in the compartment conversing with Slughorn when she arrived.

She entered and forced a smile, "So what's this then? And here I thought I was special."

Slughorn turned to look at her, "Ah! You must be Faith Lehane, the vampire hunter Dumbledore was telling me so much about!"

She frowned. Dumbledore had been talking about her? Faith sort of wondered what he had said.

"Yeah well, I'm kinda a big deal." Faith shook his hand and took in the others in attendance.

Harry was a few seats away from Slughorn. There was a shy boy roughly Harry's age was seated next to him. There was a stuck-up looking black boy seated next to Slughorn with Ginny Weasley seated on the other side of the professor. There were also a few other kids of varying ages.

"I know you must be very busy Miss Lehane, but I wondered if you could perhaps give me and my students the pleasure of your company?"

The pleasure of her company? That was something she'd never heard someone say to her before.

"Yeah, I guess." Faith took the seat by the shy boy next to Harry.

She noticed the shy boy staring at her as she took her seat, so Faith winked at him. He turned beet red and quickly looked away.

Slughorn started talking to each of the students, blabbering on about their various important connections in the wizarding world. Two had famous uncles, the stuck up kid apparently had a famously beautiful mother…that had been married like seven times. Each of her husbands had died and left her butt-loads of money. Big mystery there.

She stopped listening after that. Was that why she was here? So bald and portly could network?

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Maybe she should network him to a pack of Polgara demons and they could skewer him alive for wasting her time.

The trolley cart came by and she got a butterbeer and some licorice sticks. At least she could eat something to take her mind off of Slughorn's yammering. Faith sighed. She was bored to tears and was sincerely regretting not staying in her cabin.

The dark skinned boy had apparently done something to slight Harry and his abilities and Ginny came quickly to his defense. Faith just rolled her eyes and chewed silently on her licorice.

She had noticed absently that the boy next to her was looking very nervous about the whole situation. He was also doing his best not to look at her anymore. Faith hadn't caught Slughorn's conversation with the boy or what his name was. She must have been day dreaming at the time. It had probably been when she'd been imagining all the various grotesque deaths Slughorn could endure. Flambé was her particular favorite. Or maybe troll hammer, that was a good one.

Faith nudged the boy and he jerked back in surprise.

"So what's your story, eh? I didn't catch your name." She took a sip of her drink.

He stuttered, "Uh, my name's Neville Longbottom."

Faith nearly spit her butterbeer across the compartment. Then she started choking violently.

Luckily she hadn't doused the thin little boy and chubbier brunette girl across from her with her little spit-take.

Sirius had told Faith about what her parents had done to the Longbottoms. She was still coughing when the boy started to pat her on the back, albeit a bit apprehensively.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She straightened to look in his direction and tried to act as normal as possible. Harry was watching the two of them, his brow furrowed, clearly trying to figure out why she'd reacted like she had.

"Five by five. Wow, that's embarrassing," she strained a smile. "Guess I still haven't gotten this whole eating thing down straight...harder than it looks."

Neville's lips curled in to a tiny smile.

The dark skinned teen sneered at her from across the compartment. "Some vampire hunter you are. Almost killed by a butterbeer. Dumbledore really must be slipping, hiring someone like you to protect Hogwarts."

Slughorn looked like he was about to reproach the boy, but Faith beat him to it.

"Blaise? Is it?" she glared and he nodded.

Faith was surprised she'd remembered his name from when Slughorn had been speaking to him about his mother. Apparently she wasn't completely absent-minded.

She grinned threateningly.

"Fancy being thrown from a moving train? You never know, might be fun."

The boy looked startled, like he couldn't tell whether or not she was serious. Quite frankly, she wasn't sure if she was either. Faith shrugged at his lack of reply.

"Well, fun for me anyway."

Ginny started to laugh, but when Slughorn looked her way she acted as though she had only been coughing. Big grins had spread over both Harry's and Neville's faces as well. At least someone thought she was funny because clearly Blaise wasn't keen on her sense of humor.

Slughorn cleared his throat.

"So, Miss Lehane, you and your apprentice are from the States, correct? Do you happen to know Archibald Iuguolo or Marcus Caydon? Very famous hunters from America, those two. I met them- oh what was it- about twenty years ago? Was introduced by Vincent Venatoré, a student of mine. Vince was a great hunter in his own right too. Stopped the vampire Giardo after he'd killed several witches in the south of France."

Her apprentice? He must have meant Raven. She wondered absently if she could get Raven to refer to her as 'Master'. Probably not.

"Giardo, huh? That's wicked. But no, I can't say I've ever met them. I tend to hunt outside of wizarding circles anyway. I do more protecting of muggles than anything else really."

Faith knew the name Giardo from a few of the Watcher's diaries that Lillian had her read years ago. He was no Angelus or Kakistos, but he was at least somewhat well-known.

"Muggles? Why on earth would you worry about protecting them?" Blaise mocked her yet again.

Annoying brat. She couldn't help rehashing that whole throwing him from the train scenario in her mind. He wouldn't be so cocky then.

Slughorn patted his shoulder, "Why of course boy! In fact, they would be the ones in the most need of protecting, wouldn't they? They know nothing of dark creatures. They are so pitifully unaware of their surroundings they would surely be lost if not for individuals like Faith here!"

Blaise apparently didn't have a retort for that, so he just kept his mouth shut. It seemed Faith's answer satisfied Slughorn and the fact that she didn't happen to know those particular wizards didn't discount her as a viable person to associate with.

Unfortunately.

Faith stood up and inched toward the door. "Well, it's been fun! See you kiddies later. You too Slughorn."

"Are you sure you can't stay a bit longer Miss Lehane? Perhaps you could tell us about some of your exploits?"

She pondered telling them the story of when she fought off that pack of vampires stark naked with that preacher in South Boston. The looks on their faces would probably be photo worthy.

"Heh, no. Sorry. I have some things I need to do before we get to Hogwarts."

Like get the hell out of here.

He nodded resignedly, "Alright m'dear. Make sure to come see me anytime you like, okay?"

Fat chance, H.E.F. Slughorn.

"Sure thing Hef." Faith practically ran from the compartment back to her own.

Hopefully they'd be getting to Hogwarts soon.

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Of all the absolutely brainless things he'd done in the past, this was right up near the top.

Harry had wanted to see if he could catch Malfoy admitting to his friends that he'd taken the Dark Mark. So, with his Invisibility cloak, he had followed Blaise back to his compartment with Malfoy and a few other Slytherins. Harry had climbed up into the luggage rack above their seats to hide.

Stupid.

He had been kidding himself to think Draco hadn't seen his feet as he crawled up there.

And he hadn't even learned anything useful.

Draco had implied that he might have something to offer the Dark Lord or that Voldemort had maybe already given him a task, but nothing substantial. And he might have just been boasting falsely to impress his friends. He just knew that Draco was up to something, now more that ever, but he still had no idea what.

It had been a stupid plan, he knew that now.

Draco had remained in the compartment after the train had stopped. Draco had pretended to be looking for something in his suitcase and then…

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry fell from the luggage rack, petrified into a rather uncomfortable pose on the floor at Malfoy's feet. Completely frozen and left at Draco's mercy. A mercy that was anything but tender, as was proved by his now broken nose.

"That was for my father, Potter."

Draco knelt down to look him in the eye.

"The way I see it Potter…they won't find you until the train is all the way back in London."

He grinned from ear to ear as he draped Harry's cloak over him, but not before waving him a mocking farewell.

"Pleasant trip, Potter."

Harry wanted to scream, but he couldn't do much of anything aside from leak blood from his nose on to the compartment floor. He held out hope that someone would walk by and notice him before the train left. Someone. Anyone. The whistle blew and Harry could hear the engines starting up again.

Even if someone did happen by the compartment it wasn't like they'd see him.

The train lurched and Harry fell to his side. Now all he could do was look at the dust and garbage that had accumulated under the seats. Stray chocolate frog wrappers, straw that had fallen from someone's broom, crumpled pieces of parchment…

Harry was seething.

He imagined Malfoy was off in on of the carriages to Hogwarts at this very moment with his Slytherin friends laughing about stupid Potter. Stupid Potter who was stuck on the train and forced to wait around like an idiot until someone finally found him.

Then the cloak was suddenly pulled off him. A second later a red light flashed over him and Harry found he could move again.

"I've found him!" A voice yelled and Harry lifted his head to see Tonks in the doorway.

She helped him to his feet.

"Wotcher, Harry."

Harry noticed that her hair was still the mute brown it had been at his birthday party weeks back. The blonde girl, Raven McNamara, came sprinting down the corridor and skidded to a halt next to Tonks. She looked into the compartment at Harry.

"Yikes! That's a doozy of a broken nose, Harry!" She stepped closer and admired it.

The train lurched again as Faith stumbled out of a nearby cabin.

"Damn it. Sirius and Molly wanted me to watch your back and I can't even make it through one lousy train ride." Faith sighed.

"I don't need protecting." Harry said defensively. Hadn't he proven himself more than capable? Current situation not withstanding.

She just smiled knowingly, "Sure ya don't kid. I'll make it a point that if I ever see you in mortal danger, I'll just 'bugger off' and let you handle it yourself."

Tonks glanced out the window to see that the train was starting to pick up speed, "Looks like we're going to have to jump."

She led Harry to the exit and jumped on to the platform. He followed suit and staggered a little as his feet touched solid ground.

Both of the other women barely made it off the Hogwarts Express before it left the station. They had leapt off the train and landed on the ground with a cat-like grace.

He kept forgetting that they weren't entirely human.

Dumbledore had told him to keep quiet about it around the other students, so no one would make a fuss about having supposed dangerous magical creatures around. It was sort of nice actually knowing a secret before everyone else. Usually he was the last to know just about everything. However, there was still something they weren't saying. Harry knew that.

He could see it in the way Sirius and the others looked at Faith sometimes, in a way they didn't ever look at Raven. There was something else about her and he was racking his brain to find out what. She was a witch and was just know being trained. So maybe that was the reason they acted different around her.

Faith wasn't so bad and she hadn't really given him any reason not to trust her. It was just a feeling, like he shouldn't like her for some reason.

"So who did it?" Tonks asked as she pointed her wand out to mend his broken nose.

Harry felt his nose pop back into place and the pain eased.

"Draco Malfoy."

Faith's brow furrowed at his admission. Then she chuckled a little under her breath, as though she'd just remembered something humorous. Harry thought he heard her mutter something like, _"I must break you"_ in what sounded like a fake Russian accent.

"Put your cloak on Harry, we're going to have to get you to Hogwarts on foot. I'll send a Patronus to the Dumbledore's office to let him know you are alright."

Tonks pulled out her wand and a large four legged Patronus shot out of it and ran off. It was a different Patronus that Harry remembered her having. He wondered what had brought about the change. Maybe it had something to do with her current hair color.

"And here I was really looking forward to riding in one of those carriages with those scary looking winged horses." Faith scowled.

Harry was surprised at that, "The thestrals? You can seem them?"

Faith's patted her pocket for a second, feeling for her wand. She looked back to him curiously.

"Any reason I shouldn't?"

"They… you can only seem them if you've seen death." Harry explained with a hint of sadness in the fact that he could see them too, "Have you?"

After Harry had asked, he realized it was a stupid question really. She and Raven were Slayers. Vampire hunters. They faced life threatening situations on a daily basis, so it was more than likely that they had lost someone at some point. Harry didn't really know quite how dangerous their lives were, but if Hermione's description of the Slayer legend were anything to go by...death followed them around like a plague.

Faith just chuckled with an inkling of despair before heading up the hill, "You have no idea."

Her eyes looked incredibly old and tired. Harry could see them clearly despite the distance and lack of daylight. The pain there was ten-fold anything he himself had ever experienced. It was akin to a look he imagined one might find on a war-torn soldier who had seen and lived through far too much. And while Harry's life had not by any means been great, he found himself glad he didn't have one like hers.

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_Reviews are wicked._


	23. Of Gods & Men

**The Road to Redemption **

_A/N:Sorry for the delay. I know I say that at the beginning of probably all of my chapters. But I am...really. :) I just had a funk where I didn't want to write anything for a while. I can assure you this fic will keep going and I'm not going to abandon it anytime soon. Its just that occasionally I need a break from writing. I apologize that I am a terrible procrastinator..._

_A/N: Oh! And random semi-related side note... I saw this trailer for the movie "Bottleshock" and it has both Eliza Dushku and Alan Rickman in it! When I saw it made me really happy. What the phrase? Oh right...it made me full of squee! ;) Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out the trailer! _

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_Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is. -Albert Camus _

"You are such an ass."

Faith stated brusquely as they made their way to the Great Hall. Harry and Raven were a few steps behind them. Severus couldn't even begin to fathom what she was going on about now.

"And why is that?"

Faith gave him a withering look, "Oh I don't know, maybe you weren't breast fed as a child?" Then she made a dismissive gesture, "But I never claimed to be an expert on such things."

Snape found himself at a constant loss how to respond to the things that would escape her mouth. This was certainly no exception. His jaw tightened, "Excuse me?"

He was positive he could hear Potter and the younger Slayer sniggering behind them. Potter was going to regret laughing at him; he would make sure of that.

"But forgetting your 'breast situation' or lack thereof for a sec- what the hell was that back there?" Faith gestured to the main gate, "_'Tonks, you were better off with the old one. The new one looks weak'_?"

So that's what she was so mad about? That he had insulted Tonks' werewolf Patronus? That he had insulted Remus? He scoffed. There were some moments he questioned that she was truly a Lestrange at all.

"Do it again and I'll make your life a living hell."

And then those doubts would disintegrate.

"And here I thought you already had…"

The four of them continued the rest of the way to the Great Hall in silence. Faith went to put on the black robe she'd pulled out of her suitcase before the house elves had taken them to their rooms. The dark fabric whipped Severus right in the face as she flung it around herself to cover her muggle clothing. He shoved the cloth from his face indignantly and walked ahead of her to open the doors. The cacophony of children's voices drowning out the Great Hall made Faith take a few steps backward.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Shit. How did Dumbledore convince me to do this again?"

* * *

It had taken some serious persuasion on the part of the werewolf to get this set up. Not that Illyria cared. She was not entirely sure how she had wound up helping the vampire and the Slayer. Illyria had only meant to come along to ensure Spike's safety and now she was going on _'missions'_ and _'helping'_.

When had she become so agreeable?

It was pathetic. She was following the commands of lesser beings like a dog.

The God-king turned neutered pet.

Illyria had been somewhat upset that Spike could not come with her. Although she would never voice such weakness to the half-breed. It would be unbecoming of a God to admit that she yearned for another's company.

But he was the only attachment she had left to this world. The only attachment Winifred Burkle had left. Unless Illyria counted Fred's parents… and she didn't. Illyria had a sneaking suspicion that Winifred Burkle didn't either. Fred loved them, yes, but they were not a part of her world anymore.

Illyria approached the rear entrance of the mansion along with her _'companion'_.

A mouthy vampire. He was like Spike in that respect. But somehow, she had far less tolerance for his blithering than Spike's.

"And then I told that Vahrall demon where to stick it! And do you know what he did? You know what he did!?"

Illyria bristled as he wrapped an arm around her in a familiar gesture. Her eyes flared in annoyance.

"I suspect he did not kill you. Which I find quite unfortunate."

The ginger vampire patted her on the back, "Ha! You're funny, Leery. I can see why Spike likes you. Anyway, then he tries to hit me…"

She would not kill the half-breed.

She would not kill the half-breed.

She would not kill the half-breed.

Illyria recited the mantra silently to herself and tried to ignore the vampire as they kept walking.

But oh, how she really wanted to kill this half-breed. Illyria wanted to rip his head right from his shoulders and tear his non-beating heart right from his chest.

The path was adorned with all manner of green, both magical and non. Oddly enough, there were quite a few species of flora that Illyria herself had created before being trapped in the Deeper Well so many millennia ago.

They didn't sing. Not like they used to. What she wouldn't give to hear the music just once more.

She never used to be so sentimental.

Illyria scowled.

She never used to be _sentimental_ at all!

How she cursed the frailty of the human race.

The door to the manor slammed open and they were graced with the apathetic frown of a middle-aged blonde woman.

"Come with me."

They trailed behind the woman who made no attempt at hospitality. The house itself was not anymore inviting than its owner. It was dark and bitter. If the temperature had any affect on her body she might have shivered.

They passed a closed off room and a tidy kitchen to the door of a wine cellar. The woman glared at the half-breed.

"Now, I know how much trouble you vampires have controlling yourselves…but please do not take liberties with the prisoner. I know for a fact several of you have been helping yourselves to him. But the Dark Lord wants him alive. He has plans for him."

The woman looked disgusted at the both of them and quickly walked off like she needed to wash herself for being near them.

Illyria's face darkened. How she hated humans.

* * *

"Did you see those two vampire hunters? What a joke! They look like they'd be to busy snogging a vampire to actually manage to stake one!" Harper laughed as several other Slytherins joined in.

Draco Malfoy walked ahead of them as they made their way back to the Slytherin dormitory. He had bigger things to worry about that a couple inept vampire hunters.

He heard Blaise join in Harper's mockery of the newest Hogwarts staff. Apparently one of them who went by the name of Faith had threatened to throw him right of the train.

Draco would have loved to see that. Zabini probably wet himself; the coward.

He frowned. He didn't have time for trivial musing...he had some planning to do. Draco had to find a way to get Dumbledore to touch that opal necklace he had purchased at Borgin and Burkes. He needed to do his family proud. Needed to kill Dumbled...a girl came sprinting around the corner and ran right into him, causing both of them to tumble to the ground. The impact from the small slip of a girl had felt like he had been run into by a whole professional Quidditch team. He groaned painfully as he righted himself. The blonde, who he now recognized as one of the hunters, got to her feet quickly.

She stared at him for a second and mumbled something about 'spikes' and went to help him up. Draco didn't take her hand and crawled to his feet on his own.

She pulled at her robes awkwardly and then smiled, "Sorry about that."

She was American? Brilliant.

Draco wanted to yell at her, but at the same time she was technically a staff member. She looked about the same age as him, so that prospect was a bit disconcerting. But he couldn't afford to have any undue attention this year, not with such an important task before him.

Crabbe and Goyle came to stand next to him and attempted to look intimidating. Although Goyle just wound up looking constipated.

She snorted and shook her head at the three of them. Then she looked behind her apprehensively.

"Well! Gotta go!" Then she darted off down the hall and disappeared toward the staircases.

Draco exchanged a few confused looks with Crabbe and Goyle then he went back in the direction of the dormitory.

Then there was another figure that came sprinting around the corner, only this time they were able to dodge him. A wake of yellow feathers was trailing behind the woman. Draco could see that a few feathers were still attached to her body. It was the other hunter, Faith.

"Where is she? I'm gonna kill her!"

Her eyes searched the group frantically. They landed on Blaise for a second with a small smile, then she looked back to Draco. He pointed down to the end of the hall where the other girl had run to, "She was heading toward the staircases."

She nodded distractedly and ran off after the blonde. In a daze, Draco watched her leave.

Honestly, where did Dumbledore find these people?

* * *

Illyria descended the staircase to the cellar. The vampire shuffled down the stairs. The two creatures that had been guarding him before them left in silence.

The Groosalugg lay unconscious at the far end of the room chained to the wall. He did not appear to be in need of much guarding. Surely Voldemort could find better use of the creatures he had in his employ than watching over a half-dead human male?

The vampire whistled, "Yikes, they sure did a number on this guy! I wonder why they bother keeping him alive. They should just put him out of his misery. I mean, I don't have a soul and even I'm not that cruel! I mean look at him! Death's doorstep, that one."

Illyria agreed. They must have needed him for something important to be keeping him alive and she needed to determine what that reason was.

She took a step forward to examine the extent of his injuries. Abrasions of varying severity covered him from head to toe. His clothing was severely tattered. There was enough fabric to maintain his modesty, but only just. He had numerous bite marks on either sides of his neck.

It was obvious the wizards did not care enough to treat his injuries. They did only just enough to ensure he did not expire and even that seemed lacking. He didn't look like he would survive the week.

Illyria knelt down next to him and felt for his heart beat. It was weak.

The vampire came up behind her, "Hey what are you doing?"

She frowned. Illyria had nearly forgotten the vampire was there.

"It is none of your concern what I am doing, vampire." She turned to him.

He crossed his arms, "Of course it's my business you crazy bitch! You heard Narcissa, we aren't supposed to mess with him!"

She hissed, "And you follow the orders of a human without question? Pathetic. You are better! Better! Why would you prostrate yourself before such muck?" She paused and her frown deepened. "It is absurd…"

The vampire's face reddened in anger, "You're one to talk! Ain't you doin the same thing?"

Her eyes glazed in anger. Before he even realized what was happening she had ripped his head from his shoulders. The vampire exploded into dust in her fingertips.

Illyria's hand lowered sullenly. The half-breed was right. That was what angered her most. She wasn't following the 'Dark Lord', but she was following Spike and that Slayer. She realized the absurdity of it. A god-king taking orders from half-breeds and muck. She knew she wasn't going stop. Illyria found that she didn't want to. She hated herself for it, but she strived for their acceptance for some reason. She cared. God-kings weren't meant to care. They were meant to be dispassionate forces of nature.

The Groosalugg stirred at her feet.

Before his eyes fluttered open she transformed into her doe-eyed brunette counterpart.

"Groo? Groo? Are you alright? What happened?" She tried to look worried as she knelt down next to him.

His eyes found hers and he looked relieved if not a little dazed, "Fred?"

He struggled with his bonds and looked back at her.

"Why are you here? Did those foul beasts capture you as well? Where is Angel? Where is-" Groo paused. His face drooped.

"I had forgotten. Angel is dead. And my Princess." He slumped back against the wall. "And so are you."

Illyria blinked dumbly, "I'm not dead. What are you talking about Groo? I'm right here."

The Groosalugg shook his head, "You are not the woman named Winifred Burkle. I know who you are. You are Illyria."

She hadn't expected this. Had Angel or someone else told him? It didn't seem likely. Free time during those last few months before the destruction of Wolfram & Hart had been somewhat wanting. She doubted anyone had the time to pass along any sort of information to friends and family, let alone had the presence of mind to tell the Groosalugg of her demise. Or of Cordelia's. There was also the fact that he had known of Angel's death.

Perhaps this man wasn't as dimwitted as the Burkle persona had remembered him.

"How do you know that?" Illyria demanded.

Groo stuck out his chin proudly, "So, you are here to kill me? I should have known you were a part of this."

Illyria stood as she reverted back to her true form, "You speak as though I should know the meaning of your capture. I do not."

He coughed up blood as he laughed painfully, "Do not lie to me Old One. I know. You had to of told them of its location."

She stared at him blankly, "You words are comprehensible, but hold no meaning to me."

"You told them where it was Old One! They killed my thurg-hurd! They kept me here…dishonor me…you….you- they…" Groo started mumble incoherently in what Illyria could only assume was Pylean, then he started to convulse violently.

Illyria's eyes widened and she knelt down to steady him. He coughed up blood right into her face. She grimaced and wiped it away. His movements started to slow and he finally passed out.

This had been a dismal failure. She had not learned anything. It was no wonder the Groosalugg had been tortured so thoroughly. He deserved it, the dumb ape. He hadn't told her anything useful. Just accused her, called her a liar, and spat his 'cow blood' all over her.

This mission had only brought on more questions. What was Voldemort doing? And why was it something that Illyria would know about?

It did not bode well for the other wizards….for anything Illyria had been familiar with before her imprisonment and subsequent resurrection was not something these humans would want in the hands of the enemy.

There was a groan from the staircase and several people made their way down to the cellar. The blonde witch from before entered the room beside a taller raven-haired woman. There were two other male wizards as well. But there was one figure in particular that caught her attention.

The man, if you could still call him that, pushed his way past the blonde with a manner which indicated that he demanded respect. He obviously expected Illyria to grovel. That was something she would never do, even to maintain her cover.

She would sooner die than kneel at the feet of another.

"Where is the other one, the vampire?" the blonde witch asked her warily.

Illyria did not look at her, but continued to stare at Voldemort blankly.

"He is…'around'." She responded.

The other witch stepped forward clearly noticing the collection of dust on the floor near Illyria's feet. She took her forefinger and drew across the floor. The ash clumped together on the tip of her finger. The woman pulled out her wand and directed it at her.

"You killed him! Why?"

It was the Slayer's mother Illyria realized. The resemblance was quite apparent when you knew to look for it.

"He talked too much."

A high pitched laugh echoed through the cellar. The other occupants of the room looked terrified at the noise. This man was a true leader it would seem. To inspire such fear that his own people would flinch at his laugh was commendable. Voldemort stepped closer to her.

"Oh, I like this one. What is your name creature?"

"Leery." She nodded as cordially as she was capable.

He rubbed his chin with his long wiry fingers, "Strange name…"

"I hadn't noticed."

"Am I to take it as meaning you are _'leery'_ of others…or that I should be _'leery'_ of you? Perhaps you are not to be trusted?" His lips curled into thin smile.

He was trying to get her to admit to something. He wanted her to show some manner of apprehension at his accusation. It may have worked on someone else, but Illyria had no fear of him or anyone else.

"It is simply a name. Names hold no power. The power lies with the people behind them. If I am deceitful it is not because of my name, but because it suits me. And it does not suit me and I am not deceiving you."

"Well spoken. But perhaps in the future who could try not to kill my followers on a whim? I may find myself actually needing a few of them." Voldemort stated dryly. He walked past her toward the Groosalugg.

"Crabbe, Rastaban, take him." The two wizards rushed to pick up the unconscious man.

"Perhaps given sufficient _incentive_ he will show us where it is."

Illyria tried not to sound anxious. "Do you need my assistance?"

His red slatted eyes looked back toward her, "No. You are relieved of duty. Go back to whatever dwelling you consider home, creature. I have no need of you."

If Illyria's body still had a functioning circulatory system she was sure her blood would have been boiling. No one spoke to her like that. She tried to calm herself but she was finding it exceptionally difficult.

"Where are you taking him?"

Illyria had meant to make it sound like an idle curiosity, but it had wound up sounding more like a demand.

Voldemort's eyes flared intensely. She also suspected he was trying to read her mind. He would have little success with such an endeavor, however. Not even the most skilled psychic could read her.

"That is none of your concern. I will tolerate your insolence this once because you amuse me, but do it again and I will not hesitate to kill you. Now leave." Voldemort spun on his heals and left, the other Death Eaters followed in tow.

Illyria wished to cause that man pain. Unspeakable grotesque agony.

No one treated her like a lesser _'thing'_. Especially not a human. He certainly didn't look it but she could still smell the stench of humanity all over him. No matter how dulled and mutated his humanity had become it was still there.

She swore before this was over, she would see Voldemort mutilated and disemboweled at her feet.

And perhaps if he should see fit to beg….

Illyria would be a merciful God... and end his life swiftly.

* * *

_review._


	24. No Need to Thank Me

**The Road to Redemption**

_A/N: Well this chapter isn't especially long but I felt the next part of the story didn't fit with it and it worked better by itself as a separate chapter. We are starting to get into the thick of it now and the next several chapters are going to start getting more climactic (that's the plan anyway). And for those wondering...I am keeping some parts of the story from Half-Blood Prince, but basically just the beginning of the book. This story sort of shoots off into a whole new direction after that. So basically horcruxes and everything else associated with them (Snape killing Albus, Albus's hand, the pensieve stuff) isn't happening in the context of this story. So no horcruxes. I'm just going to leave the reasoning as to why Voldie didn't die from the rebound of the killing curse ambiguous (since he didn't have horcruxes to keep him from dieing). I'm also not going to be doing much retelling of whats in the book in great detail. I'm probably going to just focus on Faith's story and consequently the people surrounding her story, so as not to put more on my plate than necessary. Besides I figure if you are reading this you've probably already read the Harry Potter books, so no need to repeat them. _

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* * *

_I am afraid to show you who I really am, because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all I got.  
-Sabrina Ward Harrison_

_It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.  
-Author Unknown_

* * *

The first time Neville Longbottom met Faith Lehane, he had been more than a bit apprehensive. She was a hunter. Hunters were notoriously gruff and as mean as the things they hunted. When she had sat next to him on the train he'd been ready to run out the door. Then she was nice to him and she had made fun of Zabini. She'd been brilliant.

The second time they ran into each other Professor Snape had cornered him in the hallwas. Neville had dropped the fanged geranium he'd been carrying to the greenhouse for Professor Sprout at his feet. The thing had attempted to bite the professor's legs, so Snape had stepped on it. Neville had been angry, but his fears of the professor were still quite profound.

"I see you aren't even equipped with the proper mental capacity to both walk and carry a measly little plant. I must express my deep satisfaction that you are not in my class this year. Sitting through your horrible excuse for potions skills would have been nothing compared to…"

"Oh, lay off of him Sev. He just dropped a freakin' plant." Miss Lehane appeared behind the professor.

Snape had bristled, "You have yet to see Mr. Longbottom in action, Miss. Lehane. If you did, you may think differently."

Faith laughed.

"Wow. If you hate kids so much why the hell are you a teacher?"

Neville knelt down to clean up the now crushed geranium and the broken pot.

"I don't hate children, Faith. Simply the ones that seem incapable of even the most menial task."

Faith knelt down to help Neville clean up the mess. He looked at her in surprise, "Thanks."

"All I'm saying Sev, is that I think… _someone_ could use a little _nap_…." She told him in a sing-song voice as she winked at Neville.

Professor Snape's head had looked ready to burst.

"Good day Miss Lehane." He'd said the words laced with spite and then he walked off. That was something that had really surprised Neville. If someone insulted Professor Snape he would usually have at least tried to insult them back.

Faith handed him the broken shards of pottery, "See ya around Neville. And keep your hands firmly on your plants next time, eh?"

After that, Faith Lehane was quickly becoming one of his favorite people.

It was the third time he saw her that truly set her at the top. Neville had wanted to find a geranium to replace the one Professor Snape had destroyed. Sprout had told him it wasn't necessary, but he felt obligated. He knew that fanged geraniums emanated a soft blue glow during the nighttime to attract insects and various small animals….so logically, the best time to find one was at night.

He knew it was against the rules to be out in the Forbidden Forest, but after D.A. he'd grown considerably braver. If he was caught it wouldn't be a big deal and if he succeeded he could stop feeling so guilty that he'd allowed Sprout's to get smashed.

Neville had snuck out onto the grounds and made his way into the Forbidden Forest. It wasn't long after he'd entered the forest that he'd spotted an entire bed of geraniums at the top of a hill. He set down his pot and started collecting several. He figured since there were so many there he might as well get more than one.

A geranium snapped at him and barely missed taking his finger off. He pulled out his wand, "Immobulus." It stopped moving and Neville uprooted it and put it into the pot. He did this several more times and ended up with five total, as that was all that would fit. He set them in a thick bag.

He got up and turned round to find himself face-to-face with a fanged life form of a different sort. The lone vampire licked his lips at him, "You shouldn't be out here kiddo…it's dangerous."

Neville dropped his bag and pulled out his wand, but the vampire was already on him too soon for him to react. The vampire shoved him against a tree and he was pretty sure he felt something snap in his shoulder.

The creature shoved his head to the side to get to his neck causing him to yelp in pain. He tried to lift his wand, but the vampire grabbed his arm and shook it out of his grip, "You wizards. Just like all the others when you don't have your little sticks to protect you."

He felt the vampire bite down on his neck and Neville was in so much shock that he couldn't even scream. It wasn't right that he would die just because he'd wanted to impress a teacher. Although, it would have a cosmic rightness to it somehow. He was a complete failure at most things, so why shouldn't his death be for a reason so unbelievably foolish?

That wasn't true…he wasn't a failure. He'd faced Bellatrix Lestrange and the other Death Eaters! He wasn't nobody. He wouldn't die over some geraniums. It wasn't fair! He started to feel weaker.

Suddenly, he found that the pressure on his neck was gone. Neville eyes fluttered open to see the startled expression of the vampire holding on to him. There was a sharp piece of wood sticking out of the creatures chest. The vampire disintegrated and Faith was left standing in its place. Neville started to fall and she caught him.

"Easy now, kid. You lost a lot of blood." She started to examine the wound and hissed, "Yikes, he must have been new. Older vamps are never this sloppy."

Faith pulled out her wand, "Episkey."

The wound healed a little and he felt a bit better, but not by much.

"That should stop you from bleeding to death before we get you to Pomfrey." She went to help him to his feet and Neville felt a surge of pain in his shoulder and cried out. Faith pushed his hands out of the way and felt for an injury.

"I think you may have broken your collarbone. Alrighty, we'll just have to be careful-like." She helped him up avoiding putting any sort of pressure on his shoulder.

The other hunter, the blonde girl, came running up to them, "What happened?"

Was that a crossbow the girl was carrying? He remembered learning about them in Muggle Studies third year. Why were they using primitive muggle weaponry to fight dark creatures? Couldn't they just use their wands?

Although in retrospect, it wasn't like his had done him much good. But surely the would be better trained and prepared than he had been?

Faith steadied Neville against the tree and grabbed his wand from the ground, "Vampire."

The other girl frowned, "Really? That's the first we've seen since we got here. Why would it be out here? There are not enough people to feed off of…" she stopped and stared at Neville, "Well, except for a stray student that can't grasp the name Forbidden Forest…"

He blushed, "I just wanted to get these geraniums…I wasn't…"

Faith shushed him, "You can explain later. When you're not about to pass out from blood loss."

She went to help him walk and Neville remembered something, "My bag. It has the plants I was collecting…I want it…might as well make it worth it."

The woman hunter eyed the bag on the ground, "Having the bag-o-plants will make nearly getting killed 'worth it'? I guess my priorities are a bit different…but whatever." She grabbed the bag and threw it over her shoulder. Neville would have said something about being careful with them, if he weren't in so much pain.

Faith looked to the blonde, "You keep patrolling. Where there's one vampire…"

The girl smirked, "A whole nest? And you want me to go by myself? You know, getting me killed is just a tad bit overkill as payback for that canary cream…"

Faith smirked, "You'll be fine."

The bubbly girl started to run off, "Maybe the centaurs will want another member for their hunting party!"

Neville's eyes bulged, "The centaurs?"

The brunette shrugged, "Raven has been making it her mission to buddy up to them. The centaur Bane tried to kill us the first time we ran into them. Now they just sort of grudgingly accept our presence here. But I think Magorian is warming up to her…slowly. Not me though. Hates my guts! Win some you lose some, eh Neville?"

Neville shrugged and immediately regretted it as the pain spiked in his shoulder. They walked slowly and once they finally made it out of the forest Neville started to feel a lot better.

"Thank you." He looked over and her eyes were trained on the castle entrance off in the distance, "You saved my life."

"No need to thank me," she finally looked his way and her face was dead serious, "Ever."

She looked sad about something, but didn't choose to elaborate. Faith was silent the rest of the way to Hogwarts and Neville followed suit.

* * *

It seemed no matter what she did, she kept running into this kid. Maybe it was because the PTB knew she wanted to avoid him. When she saw him being sucked dry by a vampire she could hardly believe it. What the hell had he been thinking wandering out there?

Now, he was looking at her like his own guardian angel. It made her extremely uncomfortable. If he knew, Neville Longbottom surely wouldn't look at her the same way.

At the Hogwarts entrance the doors opened and they were greeted with a stone-faced McGonagall. Her expression morphed to horror when she saw Neville's condition. The older woman stared accusatorily at her, as if Faith herself had done it.

As if Faith would have dragged his ass back to the school if she had.

"What happened?"

"Not her fault." Neville groaned.

She sighed, "Longbottom got attacked by a vampire. I happened to be close by and was able to stop it."

Professor McGonagall led them quickly to the infirmary. Madame Pompfrey took him from her as soon as Faith explained what had happened.

She stood there with Minerva watching Pomfrey attend to Neville's injuries, "The only reason I can figure a vampire was out there was in hopes that he could get into the school somehow….they tend to stick around more populated areas, for obvious reasons. I would bet my first born that he was working for Voldemort."

McGonagall scowled, "You shouldn't say things like that Miss Lehane."

"That I would bet my first born? Nothing to worry about Minny, not like I'll ever have children."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps you should not make assumptions like that either."

Faith smirked, "I suppose not."

The professor eyed the bag that was still on her shoulder, "What's that?"

She'd forgotten she was holding it, "Oh… its Neville's… some plants or something. It's why he was out there, picking them. He was insistent that we didn't leave it."

Minerva shook her head, "Of all the foolish things to do, I fear he's emulating Harry, Ron, and Hermione a bit too much for my liking. I have enough to worry about with them…"

Faith pursed her lips and set down the bag by the door, "Yeah. Well, I gotta jet Minny. I'll come by and check on Neville later."

"Alright." The elder woman nodded and Faith turned to leave, "And Faith?"

She looked back, "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Faith gave weak smile, "I'm just doing my job."

* * *

Harry felt disgusting; sorting flobberworms for hours wasn't his idea of a good time. Although, it hadn't been like he expected Snape's detention to be enjoyable. He still didn't see why he should get detention for defending himself when Snape had tried to jinx him in class. Professor Snape would probably give him a detention for looking at him wrong if he could.

He heard something snap. Moments later he heard it again followed by a shout of triumph. Harry followed the noise to find Faith Lehane sitting on a balcony ledge fiddling with something on her arm. He got closer to see. For a second he thought maybe the woman had taken the Dark Mark and that's what she was messing with. That didn't make sense though, as it was her right arm, not her left. Although he didn't know for sure if the Mark had to be branded one the left arm or not.

"Hello, Harry." Faith didn't even look up from what she was doing and didn't make any attempt to cover her arm with her robes.

"Hello." Harry stepped out onto the balcony.

"Nice night, huh?" Faith looked up at the stars.

"I suppose. I didn't really notice." Harry got closer to see some sort of contraption strapped to Faith's arm.

"Sometimes I just like to watch the stars at night. I grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. The big city lights usually blocked them out. When I was with my Watcher Lillian- we would spend a lot of time in small towns and the open country. I used to just sit there and just stare at night sky. Lillian would lecture me, of course, tell me to quit my daydreaming and focus on the here and now…"

"Where is she, your Watcher?" Harry asked curiously.

"Not in the here and now." Faith answered bluntly. She went back to messing with the thing on her arm.

"Oh. I- I'm sorry." Harry stumbled.

Faith shrugged and then held out her arm, "Let's see if this works."

She flicked her wrist and the contraption sprung loose shooting her wand right into the palm of her hand.

Harry stared in awe, "That's brilliant!"

"I know, totally wicked, right? Saves a lot of time that would be wasted pulling your wand out of your pocket. And every second counts."

Harry was impressed, "Where did you get it? I certainly wouldn't mind having one."

She undid the straps on her arm holding the thing on, "It was given to me by a friend. It was originally a spring loaded wrist sheath used for stakes, but I fashioned it to hold a smaller piece of wood. I was worried it might shoot my wand across the room, but so far it hasn't."

Faith set her wand back in her pocket and held the contraption in her hand for a second thoughtfully.

"Ya know what, kid? You can have it this one," She tossed it over to him and he caught it in surprise. "I have another I can modify the same way. Since I already know how, it shouldn't take me that long. I figure you're gonna need all the help you can get anyway. Being the Savior of the Wizarding World and all. I'm sure my friend would have wanted a fellow Champion like himself to have it. Not only that, Voldie would probably shit himself if you beat him because you were using a bit of muggle-technology."

He turned the device over in his hand examining it. It would certainly be a different take on the whole _'power the Dark Lord knows not'_ thing. Harry held the device tightly in his hand. Faith wasn't turning out to be half-bad. He wasn't even sure now why he'd mistrusted her so much before. "Thank you, Faith. Really."

Faith smirked and shook her head, "Jesus, everyone is so grateful around here. It's really destroying the bitch mystique I had swinging."

Harry smiled, "Well, I could tell everyone you're a bitch, if that will make you feel better."

Faith nodded.

"It'd be comforting, yeah."


	25. Mistakes We Keep On Making

**The Road to Redemption**

_A/N: Wow, its been a while. I've been a little busy with grad school, but I had some time to get out another chapter on this. Hopefully the next one isn't too far off. Thanks again for all the reviews! And thanks to Skyfather for betaing for me :)_

_It's the same old story you've heard a thousand times. Somebody's trust gets broken. Somebody's left behind._

_-Travis Tritt_

"You're not concentrating!" Severus reprimanded with thinly veiled contempt and a sneer as Faith held her wand outward.

"I'm trying! Shit, we've been going at this for hours; you'll have to excuse a girl for being a little worn out." Faith cracked her knuckles and brought her wand back up to point it at the vase.

"Non-verbal spells depend on having good concentration. Now, if you will just stop your prattling and actually attempt to do this you may actually have a chance at succeeding."

She whistled, "Damn Sev, you should have been a Watcher…you've got the condescending British guy thing down pat."

"It is quite easy to be condescending towards someone so lacking in mental faculty." Snape added with a slight inkling of friendly repartee that he didn't often use with those around him. Usually when he insulted someone he was quite serious about it.

He watched as Faith scrunched her nose and looked at him in confusion. It amazed him how well she could alternate from a battle-hardened warrior to petulant child with such regularity. Severus just wished she wouldn't choose to be the child quite so often.

"I think you just called me stupid…but I'm not really sure. Grew up in South Boston Sev, not Harvard yard. If you want to call me a moron, then call me a moron. It's much easier and saves me the time of deciphering what the hell you're saying."

"Alright," Snape had to stop himself from smiling. "You're a moron."

"And you're a prick." She smirked, "See? Much easier."

Severus crossed his arms and looked back at the glass vase on the table, "I want you to keep trying to levitate the vase. Non-verbal spells are a crucial ability you need to add to your magical arsenal if you want to stand a chance in a duel."

"Yeah, yeah." Faith responded unenthusiastically.

Snape took a seat at his desk and began grading scrolls from his fourth year DADA students. He had gotten through about four scrolls, when he looked up to check on Faith's progress. He found that Faith had successfully managed to get the vase to levitate a few feet from the table. She was biting her lip in concentration.

Faith noticed him watching and smiled brightly, "I got it! Who's 'lacking in mental faculty' now! Ha!"

_"Look Sev! I got it!" the red-headed girl laughed as she turned to him with elation apparent in her voice._

_Severus smiled back proudly, "See, I told you that you could. You're brilliant."_

_Lily smiled, "Well, I couldn't have done it without such a brilliant teacher."_

"If you weren't such a shitty teacher I would totally have got it sooner." Faith approached the vase and grabbed it out of mid-air to set it back on the table. She winked at him teasingly.

By now he'd become accustomed enough to her speech and manner to realize that this was tantamount to her giving him a compliment.

"Yes, well. I'd say that's enough for tonight." He set the scrolls off to the side, "I was thinking that during our next lesson I should begin teaching you Occlumency."

Faith stared at him blankly, "Occu-what?"

"The ability to shield your thoughts. It could turn out to be very useful should you be confronted by the Dark Lord or his Death Eaters."

Like her parents.

"Yeah. Sure. That makes sense." She leant on the corner of his desk and spun her wand between her fingers.

"It would involve me attempting to gain access to your memories and you attempting to stop me. It will be a very exhausting process and you may want to keep that in mind when you come in tomorrow…"

He noticed Faith visibly tense the moment he'd mentioned invading her mind. She stood up quickly and turned to him attempted to act casual, but the attempt wasn't all that successful.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Plus I don't want anyone in my head. Maybe just go ahead and skip that and teach me something else." Faith started toward the door.

"It's better that you have me in your head now, than the Dark Lord getting in later." Snape supposed that he could understand her apprehension, but she did seem almost… too apprehensive about it.

Faith appeared unsure for a moment then spoke, "I don't want anyone in my head, period. You. Voldemort." Snape tried not to flinch at the use of the Dark Lord's name, "Anyone."

It could have just been him being overly suspicious, but her complete unwillingness made him wary.

Snape hated to admit it, but he'd actually started to somewhat like Ms. Lehane. She was crude, annoying and didn't know when to shut up, especially around his students, but despite those reasons he'd almost started thinking of her as something more than just a colleague. Maybe she could be a friend if he ever allowed himself to have one. She seemed to understand him better than others and something in her eyes made him feel some sort of kinship with her. Of course he'd never tell her that.

It hurt that she was so opposed to allowing him into her mind. Furthermore, to him, it had essentially burned all the bridges they had slowly started building up between them. He scowled darkly and stood from his desk to look her square in the eye. She flinched backward and avoided Snape's gaze.

"What are you hiding?"

Her head snapped back to look at him scathingly, "None of your damn business _Snivellus_. Dumbledore trusts me, just like he trusts you. And if you don't trust his judgment…maybe that means I shouldn't either. What exactly are _you_ hiding?"

He clenched his jaw tightly, "You're evading the question, Faith. Your reaction to the mere thought of me seeing into your mind and by association your intentions leads me not to trust you. Tell me, or I will find out myself."

Severus couldn't believe he'd allowed himself to trust this girl. He knew next to nothing about her. The only thing he was sure of was her parentage and that was more than enough to distrust her every action. She was charismatic he'd give her that, but he wouldn't allow that to cloud his judgment.

Severus Snape wasn't the type to be taken in by a pretty face.

Faith stiffened at his threat, "I did some things I'm not proud of, alright? And so have you, from what I hear. I don't want you to see that, and more importantly, I don't want to have to relive it. Got me?"

"That's not good enough."

She laughed agonizingly, "Weeelll….that's just too bad. Sorry _Princess_, but you can't always get what you want. If you want me to spill the beans just go right ahead and tell me what did you do while you were a member of the Death Eaters? And for that matter, what are you doing _now_ as a Death Eater?"

"That's different."

Faith scoffed as she headed back to the door, "How? Because they're your dark secrets and not mine? Don't demand that I give you information when you've got skeletons you aren't willing to reveal either, jackass."

She was hiding something and he needed to know what it was. The wool wasn't going to be pulled over his eyes. Dumbledore wasn't perfect; he may have placed too much trust on this girl. If Faith Lehane was hiding something that would be detrimental to their cause he needed to discover her treachery now.

He pulled his wand out, "I need to know."

Faith eyes widened dangerously and she came at him from across the room. Severus pressed into her mind like a shot and she fell to her knees before reaching him.

_"You killed a man."_

_Blood. So much blood._

_Dump the body. No evidence, like it never even happened._

_"Getting rid of the evidence doesn't make the problem go away."_

_Buffy doesn't understand. She's far too perfect to understand something like this. Too perfect to understand her messed up life._

_Blank unseeing eyes stared back at her in her sleep every night since that night.._

_"You can't imagine the price for true evil."_

_Murderer. Killer. Psycho._

_"I don't care."_

_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry._

_Wilkins was nice to me. No one else was ever that nice to me._

_No one else would ever be like him._

_He made the pain go away..._

_"You're the daughter I never had. Once the Ascension starts, the 'in' crowd you're so concerned about? They'll be lucky if there's enough left of them to fill a pothole. Promise. Still unhappy? I've got two words that are going to make all the pain go away. 'Miniature golf'."_

_"No one can stop the Ascension. Mayor's got it wired, B. He built this town for demons to feed on, and come graduation day, he's getting paid. And I'll be sitting at his right hand. And all your little lame-ass friends are gonna be kibbles 'n' bits."_

"Stop. Please….just stop….please…" Faith pleaded, but Snape pressed on determined to find the answers he sought. What he'd seen thus far was enough to warrant it. This man she'd sided with could present a problem.

_"Well, what are you worried about? Chin up! You don't see me looking disappointed. Heck, no. You know why? Because I know you'll always have me, Faith. I'm the best, the most important friend you'll ever have."_

_Buffy._

_"Give us a kiss."_

_Sharp seering pain._

_"You did it B. You killed me."_

_Falling. Falling so far. And Wilkins was gone. Nothing left. All alone._

_"You think you matter, you think you're a part of something, and you get dumped. It's like the whole world is moving, but you're stuck. Like those animals in the tar pits. You just keep sinking a little deeper everyday, and nobody even sees!" She pushes the older blonde woman onto the bed in anger._

_Buffy had everything. Mother. Sister. Friends. A decent Watcher. Everything Faith should have had and didn't. It wasn't fair. She didn't have a family or friends, and her Watcher wasn't worth the air he breathed._

_"All these little cuts and bruises - just bring out the mother in me. Come on. Now, now, don't poop out on me, damn it! Otherwise this all just going to be over too fast, and you'll be dead and I'll be bored. Come on, Wesley! Where is that stiff upper lip? Now, we've only done one of the five basic torture groups. We've done blunt - but that still leaves sharp, cold, hot and loud. Have a preference?" _

"No! Stop it!" Faith begged. Severus ignored her. He might have seen some parallels between himself and the girl, but he needed to know where she stood. From what he'd seen she was probably exactly like her mother and father. He'd be damned it he would listen to a word she said.

_  
"Did you ever wonder if things would have been different if we'd never met Wesley, or is it just like fate? You know, there is no choice. You were gonna be here no matter what. You think about that stuff? Fate and destiny. I don't. Not that any of this is your own fault. I think I want to hear you scream."_

_Make it stop. I can't live like this._

_"I'm evil! I'm bad! Do you hear me? Please. Angel, please, just do it! Just kill me!"_

_Angel. The only person who would never give up on her. Not like Buffy and everyone else._

_"I'd like to make a confession."_

_"The truth is... no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past, you may never balance out the cosmic scale. The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted... and maybe for the rest of your life."_

_Maybe she could make it through this. Maybe she could finally find people to call family. Maybe she could find love…._

_"You keep looking for love and acceptance from these people, these friends of yours, but you're never going to find it Faith. The truth is nobody will ever love you. Not the way I love you." _

"Get out."

_ "They'll forever see you as a killer."_

"I said: Get out!"

Snape felt something grab hold of him and shove him backward. He saw a feral looking woman glaring at him with murder in her eyes. The last thing he saw before being pried out of Faith's mind were those eyes, eyes which now burned at the back of his skull.

He steadied himself against the wall to regain his bearings. Once he cleared his head Severus found that Faith was crouched on the floor across from him, tears streaming down her face.

"You had… no right." Faith's voice rasped weakly.

All her perceived strength had vanished. She looked like nothing more than a battered child. Severus just stared at her dumbly.

"I'm…"

Faith cut him off, "If the next word out of your mouth is 'sorry', I swear to God I'll rip off one of your legs and beat you to death with it."

She got to her feet shakily and left without another word. Snape made no move to stop her.

He should have listened.

They were more alike than he ever realized, and if someone had ever done that to him he would have been livid. Severus didn't know if he could ever make it right with her after this. He didn't know how he could even approach trying. He had never apologized or sought forgiveness from anyone except from Dumbledore. He didn't know how to admit he'd made a mistake, and maybe that was simply because he'd made so many of them.

Severus stared at the door where Faith had left. This was just one more thing to add to the long list of mistakes he'd never be able to repay.

__________________________________________________________________

Raven knocked on the door to Faith's adjoining room. "Faith?"

She had heard the older Slayer shuffling around her room mumbling various curses for the better part of an hour and Raven was fairly sure she'd heard weeping too amid her muffled ranting and raving.

"What?" Faith responded brusquely.

The blonde frowned at the gruff reply.

"Today is the student trip to Hogsmeade. I told McGonagall I'd come along to watch the kiddies. I wanted to know if you'd like to come too. We could go shopping for an owl or maybe a cat like we talked about? Or maybe we could go to Hog's Head for a pint?" She waited expectantly for Faith's chiding voice to say that she wasn't old enough to drink. For being such a 'wild child' Faith was a real mother hen.

No such reply came and Faith just gave her a quick, "No thanks."

Something had her down, but Raven wasn't going to push for the reason. God knew she wanted too, but Faith was never very receptive to that sort of thing.

"Alright, grumpy-pants. Your loss."

Raven grabbed her coat and headed to the gate where the Hogwarts students where waiting to leave.

She saw a few Ravenclaw 7th year boys and rushed over to chat them up. Oh yeah, she loved this job.

___________________________________________________________________

Lupin fidgeted by the door to Tonks' room. Nymphadora had been staying in a guest room at Hogwarts since the beginning of classes. The Ministry had ordered her and a few other Aurors to be stationed there to watch over the students in case of an attack.

The portrait on the door, an elderly brunette woman brushing her hair, looked at him expectantly, "Would you like me to tell young Nymphadora that she has a visitor?"

Remus bit his lip indecisively. Maybe this was a bad idea, "I…uh…"

The woman set her brush down on her table and shook her lengthy hair behind her shoulders, "Make up your mind, boy! Or I'll make the decision for you."

He sighed, "Yes. Tell her that Remus Lupin is here to see her."

She nodded and disappeared to the other side of the door for a moment. Remus was starting to panic. What was he going to say?

He wasn't any good at his type of thing. Maybe he should just leave. The former Marauder was seriously considering making a run for it. Before he could entertain that idea any further, the door was flung open and Tonks was standing in the doorway.

"Remus?" She looked at him hopefully.

"May I…may I come in?" Lupin stuttered.

Tonks eyes brightened and she smiled shyly as she moved to let him in. Lupin walked past her and took a seat on her couch. His nerves weren't slowing any as she took a seat across from him.

"What did you want Remus?" Tonks stared at him expectantly. She looked so endearing that it made his heart clench.

He collected his thoughts and tried to remember the speech he'd been practicing in the mirror for the last two days.

"I…I've been thinking…"

Okay, so far so good.

"I was thinking about Spike."

Remus winced. Merlin he was terrible at this.

Tonks gave him a confused look and scrunched her nose, "Spike? The vampire?"

"Yes. Um…well not him specifically. Just something he'd said to me a while ago." Remus swallowed hard, "I've been a right arse."

Nymphadora nodded ardently in agreement. Remus had somewhat hoped she wouldn't agree so whole-heartedly about that, but perhaps he had deserved it.

"I feared that I couldn't be what you need. I still don't think I ever can. I look at myself and all I can see is a failure and a monster," Tonks looked ready to argue but he stopped her. "Then you look at me as though I'm something better. It almost makes me feel… normal."

Her eyes softened and all Remus wanted to do was leap across the table and snog her senseless.

"I love you Nymphadora Tonks."

Her whole face turned bright red at his confession and he continued, "I want nothing more than to be with you forever. But I need you to understand what I am and what a life with me would mean. I can't let my selfishness ruin your life. I'm a werewolf, Tonks! I don't want you to be persecuted alongside me…I can't allow that…I can't let-"

She put a hand over his mouth. "Just shut-up Remus, shut up. Do you really think I'm that naïve? Do you think so little of me that I don't know what it will be like? That I don't know what people will say? What people might try and do? I'm not stupid Remus. I know it won't be simple. I love you, dimwit! And that's all that matters! Do you hear me, Lupin? I love you! I love werewolf you, and brilliant teacher you and yes, I even love stubborn idiot you."

Remus' heart was pounding so hard in his chest he thought it was trying to break free of his rib cage. "But-"

Tonks smacked him across the face and Remus rubbed his check in shock.

"What was that for?!?"

"Because you needed someone to knock some sense into you. I want to help you. I want to be with you. Stop questioning it…please?" Tonks pouted, "I know you want to be with me too. Why else did you come here?"

Lupin reached across the table and grabbed her hands, "Alright. I….I want to…give _this_ a try…I want to be happy and I can't stand seeing you so sad anymore…not when I know I'm the cause."

Nymphadora stared at him wordlessly for a few seconds. Remus thought for a split-second that maybe she had changed her mind and his heart dropped in his chest.

Then Tonks lunged right across the table and into his arms. Her lips crashed onto his and his eyes widened in surprise. Remus broke the kiss and cupped her face in his hands to look into her eyes. She was smiling brightly. It didn't seem fair that he could be so lucky.

"I love you." Remus said and Tonks smirked. He drew his hand through her now bubble-gum pink hair and kissed her again.

He didn't think he'd ever felt so happy in his entire life.

That boy was up to something, she would bet her entire collection of Anne Rice novels on it.

She'd been following mini-Spike for about an hour. Raven had been at the pet shop buying a cute little calico kitten to cheer up Faith when she'd seen Draco Malfoy shuffling conspiratorially around Hogsmeade.

Instead of taking the kitten the shop keeper had agreed to have it delivered to the castle. She couldn't carry the cute little thing in her arms and trail the boy at the same time.

Raven caught up with him as he was coming out of the Three Broomsticks. He looked to be in quite a hurry. She stepped in front of him deciding to confront him directly.

"Heya Malfoy. What'cha doin?" She smiled innocently.

"Get out of my way." Draco growled. He looked rather pallid and sickly.

The young Slayer smiled, "Only if you tell me why you're sneaking around like a _big ol' sneaker._"

The blonde teen glared at her, "I don't have time for a stupid mud-blood like you."

Raven stared back at him in disbelief. Oh, he was so loosing points for Slytherin for that.

He pushed past her and started back toward the school. She watched as he glanced back at the Three Broomsticks. Raven tried not to make it obvious that she was following his gaze. He watched as Katie Bell left the pub with a small package in hand.

Draco gave a satisfied smirk and hurried off towards Hogwarts.

Raven turned to watch Katie more closely. The girl had a glazed look in her eyes that put the Slayer on edge. The Gryffindor girl ran to catch up with a group of her friends. Raven let Draco go, deciding to concentrate on Katie Bell instead.

The girl was walking oddly as though she was being pulled by an unseen force, like a marionette on strings. It wasn't obvious, as her friends didn't seem to take any notice of it, but Raven was looking for something to be off.

She ran up toward the group of Gryffindor girls and came up between Katie and her friend Leanne.

"Hey girls. You have fun?" They all smiled back at her and replied like they would to one of their professors. It made Raven feel weird since she wasn't much older than they were.

She looked down at the package in Katie's hands, "What that you got there? Buy a present for someone? For your boyfriend? Hmm?", she nudged Katie and waggled her eyebrows. A few of the other girls giggled.

Katie brought the package closer to her body and answered blandly, "No. It's not a present for my boyfriend. Madame Rosmerta wanted me to give the package to someone. So I am."

"Oh, who's it for?" Raven stared at her carefully.

The younger girl stared back blankly, "It's not important. It's just a package."

"Uh, huh." Raven nodded, "can I see it?"

As she reached for the package Katie jerked it away from her, "No. It's not for you. It's nothing, nothing important, promise."

She was losing her patience. Something fishy was going on and she was determined to find out what, "If it's not important, than whoever it's for won't mind if I sneak a peek."

Raven grabbed the package and Katie attempted to take it back. Leanne and the other Gryffindor girls watched on in confused interest.

"You can't! It's not yours!" Katie yelled and reached for the package. She grabbed hold of the paper wrapping and it ripped slightly as she tried to pull the package out of Raven's grasp.

"Katie. Stop it. I just want to see what it is. Calm down." The girl went for the package again and Raven put both hands around it to block her from it, "Katie, just-", Raven breath caught in her throat as she felt something icy touch the palm of her hand.

She let out a blood curdling shriek and she was lifted clear off the ground. The girls started yelling in fright and trying to find a way to bring her down out of the air.

Raven heard none of it. Her mind felt like it was being torn apart. All her worst memories came crashing down on her in some sort of horrible replay from Hell while something dark and ichorous felt like it was seeping into her very core. The pain she was feeling was worse than any she had ever felt in her life. Raven was sure that if she were to be run through with thousands of swords as her entire body was lit on fire, she would still feel better than this.

It wasn't long before her the pain was so great that mind shut down completely and the world around her went dark.

_________________________________________________________________________________


	26. So Shines a Good Dead in a Weary World

**The Road to Redemption **

_Disclaimer: I disclaim this bi-otch! So don't sue me._

_A/n: Yeah, I know, I know.... long time no see...I've gotten really swamped with grad school stuff, so I think the delay is justified...a little. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter. _

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. -Norman B. Rice_

Faith slammed open the doors to the infirmary. Several people, including Dumbledore, were crowded around a hospital bed at the far end of the room. Snape was present, she noticed. He made an attempt to hide behind a few of the others when he saw her enter. She still saw the bastard regardless. But as much as she'd like to give him a piece of her mind as well as both of her fists, her mind was elsewhere.

Neville sat up from his hospital bed when she rushed in. He went to speak but fell silent when he saw her panicked look.

Her throat felt dry as the crowd around the bed parted. Pomfrey was looking over to Dumbledore and Minerva speaking in hushed tones.

"I just don't have the proper facilities to treat her here, Albus. She needs to be sent to St. Mungo's immediately, or I fear the worst."

A small frail looking girl lay beneath the sheets, her face was pallid and covered in sweat.

"Raven?"

The girl barely even looked like her friend. Her normally happy visage was marred by a gruesome look of agony. Madame Pomfrey made a move to stop Faith from getting closer, but she pushed by her causing Poppy to yelp in surprise. Kneeling down next to the bed she took the younger girl's hand in her own. Faith's face tightened. She should have gone with her to Hogsmeade.

"Who did it?" Her voice remained surprisingly level despite her overwhelming anger.

Minerva placed a hand on her shoulder attempting to comfort her, but Faith immediately shrugged it off.

Dumbledore started to speak, "We are not completely sure of that yet Nymphadora and the other Aurors will be conducting a full investigation...and then the perpetrator will-"

"Bullshit." Faith sniped and she stood from the bed, "You know who did it. I can see it in your eyes. Tell me!"

"You need to calm down, Faith. Getting hysterical won't help anything." Remus moved toward her along with a now pink-haired Tonks.

"Calm down?" she asked baring her teeth in a feral snarl. "No, I will not calm down! Look at her, damn it!" Faith's voice broke as she pointed at Raven, "Look at her!"

Dumbledore held up his hands and tried to assuage her, "I understand that you're angry, Faith. But, before we can track down the culprit we must first see to Miss McNamara. When the package she was holding tore, she was only minimally exposed to the necklace inside it. That piece of jewelry was cursed with extremely dark magicks, full exposure would have killed even the most powerful wizard instantly. We are very fortunate that she even survived."

Faith crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Well, yes, thank you so much for your insight, Albus." Faith spat. Her patience was running thin, "I'm sure Raven will be just thrilled to know how _fortunate_ she was to be tortured _very, very slowly_!"

Raven stirred from behind her. Faith spun only to find the young girl's face still scrunched up tightly in a grimace, the sweat pooling even heavier from her face.

"You do whatever you need to in order to make sure she pulls through this. Because if she doesn't," her eyes found Snape's and he shrank back from her menacing glare, "I think I'll be showing whoever did this, just how like my parents I can be."

Faith didn't think she could spend one more second in here without completely losing it. She turned to leave and while in the process of storming away she'd nearly slammed right into Neville Longbottom. Apparently, he'd decided to get up out of his bed. He'd gotten bitten by that vampire yesterday, but the wound was almost completely healed except for a two small scabs. Pomfrey was probably just keeping him for observation.

If she wasn't so angry she might have worried that Longbottom had caught her comment about her parents, and that he might have put two and two together. However he just looked concerned for her. That just made her even more uncomfortable.

"Are you okay, Faith?"

Faith bit her tongue to avoid saying whatever condescending retort that threatened to escape her. She was also at a loss for words to explain what she was feeling, "I...I just need to find out who did this. I need..."

"I understand." Neville looked at her sympathetically, "I know how it feels to want... revenge... when people you care about get hurt."

Faith stomach clenched and she shut her eyes tightly. She really needed to get out of here. The doors were thrown open again, and two figures rushed in. The first was Sirius and then Harry. Seeing Faith's state of duress, Sirius ran up and wrapped his arms around her tightly in an attempt to comfort her.

Sirius Black was slowly but surely turning into what Faith imagined a big brother might be like. Protective, caring, loving; Sort of like Angel, but there was something was different about it. Angel had been her greatest friend, but this...this feeling must be what it felt like to have family.

Faith returned his hug tightly, looking for something to ground her. After what Severus had done to her and now this? She didn't think she could take much more. She didn't even notice the befuddled looks both Neville and Harry were giving them for their show of affection.

"What happened?" Her cousin's voice reverberated against her shoulder.

Faith tried to stop her voice from shaking, but her attempts to calm herself only made her emotions that much worse. "Raven touched something; a necklace. It was...was cursed. A few girls were carrying it in some package...they-" Faith took a hitched breath; "they were under the Imperious curse. They think someone was trying to kill someone inside Hogwarts," and with a bit of pride in her voice she added, "but Raven stopped them."

Sirius broke the hug but kept both hands on each of her shoulders holding her firmly, "How is she?"

"Not good."

Sirius' eyes softened, "What about you? How are you doing?" His gray eyes searched hers and Faith responded with a frown, "I'll be better once I find out who did this to her."

He nodded, "Once you do, I'll help you take the bastard down."

"Apparently, your temporary stint with death has addled your mind even more, Black," a condescending voice added from behind them, "what makes you think you can uncover who planted that necklace, let alone catch them? You couldn't even catch Pettigrew and he's hardly what one would call a _formidable opponent_."

Harry let out a few indecipherable grumbles at the slight toward his godfather and the mention of Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius' face burned bright red. And apparently, Severus had decided not to stick with being intelligent and keep out of Faith's way. She turned around to face the man, but Sirius stepped in front Faith before she could let loose her wrath.

"Shut your trap, Snivellus." he growled, "I bet anything you know exactly who did this. You just won't say, as not to disappoint your dear old friend Voldemort."

Neville gasped and took a step back, but no one was paying any attention to him at this point. Severus glared at Sirius with unfettered hatred. "Now I know why you and Miss Lehane are so close. You share a great deal in common, don't you? Both of you are careless, reckless," his anger started to rise to dangerous levels, "not to mention that you both escaped from prisons and were wanted for _murder..._"

Faith dared not look in the direction of Harry or Neville, but she suspected they were no doubt surprised at the revelation. Maybe this would mean Longbottom would stop looking at her like she was Mother Teresa.

Snape watched Sirius carefully; clearly he expected to garner some sort of shock out of her cousin. Snape was clearly just saying those thing to get a rise out of Sirius, but it hardly mattered. Did he have no shame at all for what he'd done to her? Faith took a step forward and yey again before she could do anything Sirius beat her to the punch. He started to circle Snape like a wild dog would its prey.

"You just don't know when to keep your ugly mug shut do you, Snivellus? Do you really want to do this here?" Black growled.

Snape's eyes widened in realization, "You... knew?" He balled his fists and advanced on Sirius in a frenzy of anger, "That is so like you, Black! Your hypocrisy knows no bounds, does it? You accuse me of treachery, and whatever else strikes your fancy, when you have absolutely no proof. And yet you'll pal around with convicted killers and give them your complete trust?!"

Dumbledore and McGonagall were both headed toward them now, likely in an attempt to break up the argument. Before she lost her chance, Faith finally pushed past a protesting Sirius to fix Severus a cold glare. He looked about to continue his spat with her cousin, when he turned to look at her and his words died on his lips. Then, without preamble Faith punched him right in his nose, breaking it with a sickening crack. He fell backward onto a spare hospital bed.

"How dare you!" Faith screamed and Snape began to pull out his wand. She leapt on top of him and held back his wand arm as she punched him again in the face. Blood was pouring from Severus' nose.

"After what you did to me, do you really think _now_ is a good time to be reminding me how much I hate you?" Severus looked like he was thinking of something to say to defend himself, but before he could, Faith grabbed hold of his throat and began choking him.

She needed to take all her anger out on someone or something and Severus was just asking for it. And why not take it out on someone who actually deserved it for a change?

Faith could hear everyone in the infirmary shouting and trying to get her to stop. She ignored their pleas, "You are just lucky I'm not that same girl that you saw in my memories when you practically mind-raped me, you son of a bitch!"

McGonagall gasped and the room fell silent.

In a haze, moments later, a pair of hands pulled her off of Severus. She could feel herself being dragged away from the now bloodied DADA professor. Her heart was pounding deafeningly in her ears. It drowned out everything else, save Sirius's voice. He was whispering in her ear that it was going to be okay and that he'd 'take care' of Snape. Faith's mind was a cloud that she couldn't quite sift through. Everything seemed like it was falling apart, again. She'd thought this world might be different. Maybe she could get away from the stigma of her past for a little while, but it always resurfaced. Just like Angel had told her, she'd be haunted forever. Sirius led her outside the infirmary and Tonks was following close behind.

Sirius sat her down on a bench in the hall and knelt down in front of her, "What happened, Faith? What did he do to you?"

"It's nothing I can't take care of myself, Sirius." She didn't need other people fighting her battles for her.

"Faith, tell me." Sirius' gray orbs tried to search hers for the answer.

With a sigh she looked at him sadly, "You heard what I said back there. I'd say that pretty much sums it up. He invaded my thoughts without permission. I'll deal with him later...don't worry about me. I don't need a protector."

Tonks sat down next to her on the bench, "You're a capable girl, Faith. Nobody is saying you're not, but sometimes you need to tell people things. Let them know when something is wrong. That's what it means to have friends..." her bubble-gum haired cousin smiled, "and family."

"The last person that tried to be my family turned into a giant snake and got blown up, maybe it would be in your best interests not to try to get close to me." Tonks frowned. Faith had nearly forgotten that Nymphadora knew almost nothing about her past. Faith sighed, "look at Raven, she wouldn't have even been here if it wasn't for me."

"And you wouldn't be here if not for me." Sirius tried to reason with her, "You can't keep blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault. Raven knew what she was getting into and it wasn't as though she would have been any safer back at the Cleveland Hellmouth."

"Whatever," Faith responded wearily, not wanting to argue the point with them anymore "just, leave me alone for a little while...I need time to think."

Her cousins left her just as the wizarding versions of EMTs appeared to take Raven to St. Mungo's. Faith half-wondered what would happen if they found out Raven wasn't a witch like they'd all been pretending. A trick wand from the Weasley's joke shop could only fool people for so long.

Eventually people would find out who Raven and she really were. And then what?

Faith wished life could be a little less complicated sometimes. Sleep, eat, work, lather, rinse and repeat. How she craved for the mundaneness of it all. Although, she suspected that if she ever had a normal life, she wouldn't know what to do with it.

"Faith?" A voice called her out of her thoughts.

Harry Potter was standing in front of her with a weary expression on his face.

"Now's really not a good time, Harry." Faith rubbed her bleary eyes and stood up to leave.

"No...I know- it's just..." Potter looked up and down the hall to see if anyone else was listening in and turned back to her, "I think I know who was behind what happened to Raven."

That gave him her undivided attention, "Tell me."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This was bad. Very, very bad; they'd captured his girls. They'd captured him too but he didn't view that as quite as important.

_His girls._ He was supposed to watch out for them. Not run them right into elaborate traps. It was careless to run headlong into that house after that wizard who'd killed the young Slay Maggie in Cardiff. He'd thought that two Slayers and two Watchers would be more than enough to take on one little magician. And the other Watcher, Carl Lethbridge, knew some magic. It was supposed to be cake-walk.

He should have known it was a trap. They'd been ambushed by a whole group of the magic users.

He could hear his girls struggling next to him; they must have tied their hands with some sort of unbreakable binding. His head was covered so he couldn't see where they were leading them.

"No! I won't go!" Dana screamed helplessly, "Please! Let me go!"

Robin Wood grimaced, Dana had only just been rehabilitated enough to start patrolling with the other girls. He shouldn't have allowed her to come on this mission. She'd been so insistent that she was ready. At the time, he hadn't been able to find it in him to deny her. If this went badly, he feared what it would do to the poor damaged girl.

"It's alright, Dana. We'll get through this."

A feminine voice cackled behind him, "Oh, this muggle is very funny! I think I shall enjoy torturing him!"

The hands holding on to him pushed him forward and his knees slammed painfully into the floor. A hand pulled off the black hood covering his head and Robin's vision cleared to see a group of masked men staring down at him. Or at least he thought they were staring, it was hard to tell with the masks.

"Are these the same ones that attacked you last time?" A harsh voice hissed, but Wood failed to see the voice's owner.

One of the masked-men stepped forward, "No, these two weren't with the others that ambushed us at the Tonks' residence. But, we do know they are working with them."

"I see."

A strange creature appeared out of thin air right in front of Robin's charges. The girls leapt back defensively at the thing's sudden manifestation. The demon was tall and gangly, and its face looked like a cross between a snake and a person. It was completely devoid of hair with slightly greenish skin and slit red eyes. It stepped toward one of the Slayers, Lacie.

"I wonder... just how many of you are there?" The creature reached out with one of his skeleton-like hands toward the now seething brunette.

"Don't touch her!" Robin screamed and got to his feet, glaring at the demon. The creature's hand retreated and he turned to look at Wood with half-interest.

"And what is _this_?" The demon asked with disgust.

The masked-female that had threatened him before spoke up, "We believe that he and the other man are the magical beings teachers. They called them their 'Watchers'."

The demon advanced on him and Carl. His fellow Watcher was still cowering next to him, looking anything but the experienced and seasoned man Wood had thought him to be. The demon pulled out a small stick with a flourish, "_Slayers_ and their _Watchers_. Has a certain... _ring_ to it. So, tell me..._Watcher_, how many _Slayers_ do you watch?"

"Go to Hell," Robin responded defiantly, "I'm not going to tell you anything."

The woman started to cackle again, and quite a few of the others in the room began to join in. The demon came closer and smiled in a way that made Wood's skin crawl.

"Oh, but you don't have a choice."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Draco sat in the corner of the prefect bathroom his hands covering his face. He'd failed and he'd nearly killed that American girl. He slammed his fist against the tile floor beneath him and winced in pain. Draco didn't want to do this, but that didn't change the fact that he had to.

He needed to kill Dumbledore. He had to. He had to finish his assignment, regardless of other casualties. He had to save his mum. He wiped a few tears away from his face, got to his feet and shuffled to the bathroom sink. Clutching onto the edges of the porcelain for support, he turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on to his face to help clear his mind. Draco's eyes drifted to the mirror. He barely even recognized himself anymore. There were bags under his eyes; eyes that lacked their usual overconfident sparkle. His hair was a right mess too and even though he thought it impossible, he was sure his skin had become even paler.

Draco splashed some more water on his face and slicked back his hair. He may not be able to fix the rest of his appearance, but his hair was, at least, something still under his control.

He stood at the bathroom sink for several minutes trying to rebuild the demeanor the outside world was used to seeing of him. He could do this. He had to.

Stepping out of the bathroom Draco turned and headed toward the Slytherin dormitory. There must be another way to get to Dumbledore. Draco had spent a lot of time an energy thinking up that scheme to get that sodding necklace to Professor Dumbledore, but that damn nosy girl had ruined it all.

What was he going to do now?

_"Shrinct. Shrcreeet!"_

He came to a halt. The strange noise was coming from across the hall. Looking around he saw no one else in the hallway. It was well past the time any of the students were supposed to be up. Not that that would stop Potter and his friends from following him around in that damned invisibility cloak of his. Pulling out his wand Draco headed toward where he heard the noise. He came to a dead end; a bare brick wall stared back at him, almost mocking him for his extreme paranoia.

Draco was about to leave when he heard it again and spun on his heels, back to the blank wall. The bricks began to shift making loud scraping noises as they ground against each other. A door started to form right in front of him.

His eyes widened in realization, the Room of Requirement!

Maybe he could use the room to find a way to save his mother! Draco rushed to the door and opened it excitedly. He rushed inside and came to a halt in the middle of the room.

It was a sparse dimly lit room with tall cathedral ceilings. There was nothing in the room except for two old wooden chairs facing one another. Draco deflated. How were two sodding chairs going to help him kill Dumbledore and save his mum? He was about to just collapse on the ground and claim defeat when he heard a throat clear from behind him. He didn't even get a chance to turn around.

"Stupefy!" Draco collapsed in a heap on the dusty floor.

When he woke, he let out a long despondent groan. A hand was slapping him lightly on his face and when he didn't immediately wake, the light prodding was followed by a sharp jab in his side. Draco yelped in pain and his eyes fluttered completely open. He found himself bound to one of the chairs that had been in the room when he'd entered.

"Morning, sunshine," A voice cooed in his ear. He spun his head to look at the figure leaning over him. For a second, he thought it was his Aunt coming to punish him for failing their bloodline.

But the voice was all wrong. For starters, it wasn't quite as terrifying as Bella's was whenever her family integrity was called into question. Then there was the fact that the voice was clearly American.

It was that other hunter, Faith.

"What's going on?" she must have figured out he had been the one to plant that necklace. How on earth she'd been able to figure it out was beyond him. Maybe the two vampire hunters were better at their jobs than they looked.

Faith's eyes flashed with a deep-seated hatred that made Draco squirm in his binds. She shook her head and looked away from him without even bothering to answer the question. He was fairly sure he already knew the answer anyway.

"Let me go!" Draco demanded with much more confidence than he was feeling.

The woman grabbed the other chair and brought it closer to take a seat in front of him. She leaned back in the chair and looked at him contemplatively.

"I'm going to go with...no." she smirked darkly.

"Do you have any idea who I am? Who I _know_? You'll pay, if I'm not released at once." He pulled against his binds in an attempt to break free.

Faith leaned forward and stared him square in the eye. Any confidence he had died almost instantly when he saw the intensity behind the eyes of his captor.

"You're Draco Malfoy. Son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, a snot nose kid with no backbone, who hides behind privilege and bloodlines, like it means something. And judging by that nice little tattoo you got on your left arm...I'd say I have a pretty clear idea of who you _know_," the dark-haired hunter scowled, "But really, Draco, do you think for one second any of those people you think you _know_ would lift a finger to come help you now?... Or ever," Faith said. "You're a lackey, Drake. Nobody rescues the lackeys. So, who you _know_ is irrelevant."

His face reddened and whether it was in anger or embarrassment he wasn't entirely sure. She was right, but he would be damned if he'd let her know it, "You can't do this to me! I didn't do anything! You've no right! Once I get out of here you're-" she shot out of her chair and grabbed him by the robe. She brought a small knife to his throat, "Who says you're going to be getting out of here?"

Draco's eyes bulged in horror. Faith was supposed to be one of the good guys, or so he'd thought. They weren't supposed to be as ruthless as Death Eaters. Where they?

"You nearly killed my best friend, you sack of shit! Don't you dare threaten me. I don't have any problems with beating children who've been bad." Faith pressed the blade a little closer, "I hear it builds character."

He didn't think she was bluffing. Draco tried to stop himself from shaking, "Please...just let me go."

Faith released some of the pressure on her knife against his neck, but her voice remained murderous, "Why should I?"

Draco couldn't stop himself from crying like a helpless child. Merlin, if his father could see him now.

"I didn't want to hurt your friend! It was supposed to be someone else! Please! It's my mother! He'll kill her if I don't do it...I have to!" He shut his eyes tightly, preparing for the inevitable.

He felt the blade disappear from his neck entirely and heard her back away from him. Draco opened one eye warily to see what she was doing. Faith was staring at her knife blankly and then she let out a strangled cry as she threw the knife aside. It tumbled across the floor echoing loudly in the otherwise silent room.

"Raven better be okay, Malfoy....if she's not...I swear I'll-" Faith collapsed into the chair in front of him defeated. He voice was a near whisper when she spoke again, "I really hate that I can sympathize with you right now, when all I want to do is brake every bone in your body," she sighed, "this must be what Buffy felt like..."

That last bit made no sense to him. But, it didn't look like she was going to follow through on her threat to kill him, so no need to look a gift hippogriff in the mouth. He, for one, knew just how hard the things could bite.

Faith sat there in the chair her hands covering her face, silent for several moments. Draco remained equally silent, not sure what to do, not sure that he should say anything lest she change her mind.

Then, Faith spoke from beneath her hands, "So, Voldie's going to kill Cissy if you don't kill whoever he told you to?"

Draco shifted uncomfortably, he shouldn't have said anything. This was only going to make things worse. It wasn't like she could help. He looked up to find Faith looking at him with genuinely concerned.

Bloody hell, this woman's moods could change on the flip of the galleon... maybe she should look into using those mood-adjusting potions they sold at the apothecary down Diagon Alley, because clearly she needed them. And since when did people go around calling the Dark Lord, _'Voldie'_? And what gave her the right to call his mom _'Cissy'_ like they were close personal friends?

"Talk to me, Draco." Faith leaned closer, "If you tell me everything, I can help you save your mom. And nobody has to kill anybody."

His anger boiled, first she wanted to kill him, and now she wanted to help? It didn't work like that.

"Why do you care? I don't need your help! Stop being nice to me!" Draco screamed at her.

Faith's head tilted and then of all the possible things she could have done, she started to laugh. That was not the reaction Draco expected from a woman whose friend he'd nearly killed. Was she insane?

"Talk about your Déjà Vu. Except see, it used to be me who was sitting where you are now and a very good friend of mine was sitting here," she pointed at herself. "I think it's really quite...poetic how things have come full circle. We are, in some ways, very alike. You and me."

"You are nothing like me, you yankee mudblood!" Draco ground his teeth in frustration. This crazy bint didn't know what she was talking about.

She smiled knowingly, "Sure we're not. Because unlike you...I've actually killed someone before."

It took him a moment to register what she'd said, "Wh-What?"

"You heard me, hotshot." Faith put a hand on his shoulder and he did his best not to flinch back, "If I can save someone else from having to deal with that kind of pain you bet your ass I'm going to do everything in my power to try." She poked him in the chest, "And while too much stock is put into blood lines around here... for the record, I am a pure-blood."

"American pure-blood families hardly count," he spat.

"Oh-ho!" Faith laughed playfully, "You've got some spunk kid! I like it, if it weren't so damn annoying." Faith crossed her arms, "And my parents are pure-blood British wizards." She smiled, "So, put that in your pipe and smoke it."

Draco scowled, "It doesn't matter, and you still can't help me."

The vampire hunter nodded with a sly smirk, "Right, Dark Lord's going to kill your mom. It's hopeless. Clearly, no one can fight him. He's just so powerful! We might as well give up and fall to his every whim."

He really had no idea what to think of this woman. "Are you mocking me?"

"Yes." Faith nodded.

"Well, stop it." Draco stretched against his binds again to see if they would loosen.

"_We-ell, sto-op it._" she replied in a sing-song voice. Faith smirked when she saw him glaring back at her.

"Did you come here to kill me, help me, or mock me? Just pick one; I don't have time for this!" Her eyes darkened and for a second Draco's heart raced. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to provoke her. He struggled against the ropes again and they didn't loosen in the slightest; in fact they only seemed to get tighter.

"Look kid, I'm trying to put aside for a second that you nearly _killed_ my friend, so maybe you should try and be as patient with me as I am being with you. Got me?" Faith folded her arms over her chest, "And I do want to help you, Draco. But first, you need to let me!" Faith stopped and looked contemplative about her own words. She shook her head.

She stood with her hands on her hips, muttering nonsense about glass houses and throwing stones and stupid cousins. It made no sense to him, like just about everything else that had came out of the woman's mouth thus far.

"Why do you want to help me? You don't even know me!" He didn't understand her at all.

"Out of the goodness of my itty-bitty heart, Drake. And like I already told you, I know what you're going through." She walked across the room to pick up her discarded knife.

"How could you possibly understand? Just because you've killed someone doesn't mean you know anything about me!" Draco growled.

"I won't deny that my experiences have been a bit different than yours, kiddo. But I do know what its like to feel that you have nowhere to turn, and no one to truly confide in." she turned away from him, examining her knife before putting in back in her pocket, "like you're falling and no one else can see it." she sighed painfully, "and even if they did, it's not like they'd care enough to help."

Faith sat back down and Draco tried to look away, but found himself strangely drawn to her emotion-filled eyes. Her words were the same ones he'd been saying to himself silently for months.

She continued, "I know what its like to feel like you have no choice. You fall into that darkness, but only because it's what everyone on both sides expects of you. And you might as well believe that's what you want too, cause what other choice do you have, right?" Faith waved her hands in the air emphatically, "But you're just a confused kid that needs someone to help show you that the world isn't one big pile of shit! Someone who will at least be willing to try and help you!"

Just who was she trying to convince? Draco or herself?

Faith let out a strangled breath. "But all anyone ever sees is a screwed-up teenager with issues too difficult to touch, and so they ignore you. Sweep you under the rug like a pile of dirt! Because, well, it's what you were meant to be anyway… so why bother? And really, who'd believe it wasn't what you'd wanted all along? Who'd believe that you want desperately to be different? No one." she slammed her fist into a nearby wall in frustration making Draco jump.

"But that's not true, Draco. Some people really do want to help...you've just gotten so used to people ignoring you, that you start to ignore the people who might finally pay attention."

"How did... you know?" he asked through his clenched jaw. He shut his eyes tightly to try and clear away the tears. He wished desperately he could free his hands to wipe away the evidence that what she was saying was having any affect on him. Malfoy's didn't cry, at least that's what his father always said.

Faith's own eyes were starting to tear up as she looked back at him. She drew her robe sleeve over her face trying to get rid of the tears. Apparently neither of them liked showing weakness.

"Like I said. We're not so different." Faith pulled her knife back out and leaned over him to cut off his binds.

He looked at up her as he felt the binds fall off. Hope started to rise within him, "Can you really help me? I mean, is it really possible?"

"Yes...yes, Draco. I think it is." Faith nodded with a smile and small tilt of her head, "let's go save your mom."

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